


The Skeleton Woods

by CrstalDream



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Multi, POV First Person, POV Original Female Character, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Rating May Change, Self-Indulgent, Skeletons, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, reverse-harem - Freeform, sinning, skeleton harem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-04-23 16:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14336307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrstalDream/pseuds/CrstalDream
Summary: Lady A wanted to disappear but instead she becomes a spectator to the day monsters were freed. Her family feared monsters and sadly she had to move away but she swore to herself that one day she would go back to her hometown.It's been 4 years now and she's moving back to her old home! Follow Lady A as she catches feelings for the skeletons.





	1. Dream, Work, Date, and Finally Moving Back!

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9816140) by [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/pseuds/Tyrant_Tortoise). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lady A goes up the mountain to disappear but it doesn't go as planned.
> 
> It's been 4 years since that day and Lady A is more than prepared to move back. She goes through her usual routine for the last time and it just so happens that the Great Papyrus is visiting the country as the monster mascot and is window shopping at the same area Lady A is working.
> 
> After a date and celebrating her 21st birthday, she finally moves back to her old home but for some reason they now call the woods her house resides in The Skeleton Woods.

The forest was dense and at the back of my mind I knew my parents would be worried for me being out here alone but I just didn’t care anymore. I wanted to get away, so I came to the mountains and kept walking without turning back.  

I’ve lived here all my life and those who lived here have all heard the legend, those who climb the mountain never return. Every step I took echoed as I enter the cave entrance.

As I enter the cave, all I could see was vines and stalactites, the only light coming from the entrance I came from.

I stop walking and a large crater was right in front of me, I peer down and it was completely dark, it would be a long drop before I could feel anything.

“Just jump.” I whisper to myself. I wanted to jump but my legs froze on the spot and I couldn’t stop my shaky breath. I already walked up the mountain, all I have to do now is jump, and it will all be over.

“I’m useless.” Tears were falling now, I was such a cry baby and everyone back home would say the same.

Maybe that’s why I wanted to get away, I was oversensitive and always got hurt by the little things. No one would care if I was gone, no matter what I did they would be disappointed of my choices.

I balled up my fist and force myself to stop shaking, I looked down determined to jump now but before I could move a beaming light expels from the crater. In my shock I fell backwards and I hear some voices coming from the hole, I quickly scrambled to pick myself up and hid behind a boulder. Peeking from behind the boulder I saw a few figures pass by.

A child came out first with a bowl haircut wearing a blue and purple striped shirt but my attention was focused on what was behind them.

Monsters!

There was 2 goat looking creature I assumed they were white-furred Nubian Goat, both wore purple clothing and looked similar but one had a larger horns and a blonde mane. A blue skinned fish lady with a red pony tail wearing a tank top and black leggings came out holding a short yellow scaly dinosaur with glasses and a lab coat. The last two were skeletons, one shorter than the other wearing a blue hoodie and shorts while the other wore some sort of battle armour.

They walked towards the entrance and stared into the sunset.

“Oh my…” the white furred Nubian Goat in a long purple robe said in utter amazement.

“Isn’t it beautiful, everyone?” The one with larger horns and a golden mane Nubian Goat wearing a purple cape enveloping him said thoughtfully to the rest.

“Wow… it’s e-even better than on TV. WAY better! Better than I ever imagine!” The yellow dinosaur stuttered out.

“Frisk, you LIVE with this!? The sunlight is so nice and the air is so fresh! I really feel alive!” The fish lady said and stretched her hands in the air, she faced the small child who nodded in respond.

“HEY SANS… WHAT’S THAT GIANT BALL?” The taller skeleton shouted pointing at the sun.

“We call that the sun, my friend” The smaller skeleton replied with a shrug.

“THAT’S THE SUN!? WOWIE!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M FINALLY MEETING THE SUN!!!” That tall skeleton had so much energy and joy that my heart couldn't help but flutter from his overall excitement.

**_RING RING RING RING RING_ **

Suddenly, I hear a loud ringing but nothing else was reacting to it, I cover my ears with my hands but the ringing wouldn’t stop. The world around me shifts and the world goes to black.

I wake up in bed and the alarm clock next to my bed continues ringing next to my ear. I tiredly brought my hand down on it to turn it off.

I rub my eyes and give out a yawn, I have to get ready for work.  I groggily sat up and dragged my feet to the bathroom to splash some water onto my face.

_I dreamt of the past again._

I got into a new change of clothing but my head was throbbing in pain and I could still hear a faint ringing because of the alarm clock. There should be some aspirin downstairs I could take before walking to work.

“Good morning babe” my mother greeted.

“Morning, do we have any aspirin left?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ll go get it, go have breakfast.” She said.

“Thanks” I said and walked back into the kitchen to help myself to some poached eggs with a piece of toast.

“Do you need a ride to work?” She asked, passing me the aspirin and a cup of water.

“I’ll just walk there, don’t worry about it” I said before I popped the pill into my mouth and drank the cup of water.

“Be safe” She kissed me on the forehead and ruffled my hair at the front door.

“Will do” I put on my black boots and walked through the neighbourhood, it was only 10 minutes until I reached my destination. I approached the pet store I worked in and saw my boss.

“Hey kid, you’re here early.” My boss stated surprised, unlocking the doors to the store.

“Yeah, woke up early” I shrugged.

“Are pigs flying already?” Boss brought their hand over their eyes.

“Hell’s frozen over!” I jazz handed.

“The world is ending! Oh the horror!” Boss feigned a faint.

“Okay it’s not that bad.” I laughed, taking my attendance card to punch in for the day.

_I could tell my boss was just teasing, I was late often so the surprise was well deserved, the boss didn’t mind as long as I stayed longer._

“Hah, well start cleaning those cages. I’m going to feed the animals.” They said as they hand me a bucket filled with the cleaning supplies.

I walk over to one of the animal enclosure and move the animals gently into the playroom, the enclosure always had a foul odour if left too long so the boss makes us clean it every few hours.

“So have you heard that the monster ambassador making the news again? Apparently the prime minister invited them this time” Boss had an amused tone.

“Thought the prime minister wanted nothing to do with them? Isn’t that what they said the last time?” I asked.

“Yeah, they were really adamant on being a monster-free country until they realized monster gold was good for the economy.” Boss chuckled darkly. I couldn’t help but shudder to their comment.

_Money made the world go round and the government was corrupt no matter where you were._

“I suppose but hey, monsters getting rights and being treated well in this country is part of the deal so times are changing for the better” I brought up to lighten the mood.

“Definitely, are you excited?” They smiled as they finished rounding the animals to eat.

“I’ll wait and see how it goes, how about you?” I mumbled spraying some soap on the glass and wiping with a cloth

“Of course! Hey, didn’t you used to live there near the mountain uh… Mount Ebott? What was it like to be one of the first few people to find out monsters actually existed?” Boss raised a brow towards me.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool, I can’t remember though. It’s been like what 4 years?” I remember what happened clearly because of those dreams but I rather not talk about it.

_I haven’t even told my family about my small adventure up the mountain. They would freak out and I wouldn’t exactly blame them._

“Why did you move anyway?” They leaned onto the counter.

“Family reasons. I’m planning to go back on my 21st birthday though.” It took a lot of convincing but my family agreed that when I turned 21 I would be considered an adult and could make my own decisions.

“You’re not afraid of monsters?” They teased

“So scared my bones are rattling” I stuck my tongue out.

_As if on cue, a tall skeleton entered the store. Oh my god._

“GREETINGS HUMAN! DO NOT FEAR FOR IT IS JUST I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS PASSING BY DOING WHAT THE HUMAN CALLS WINDOW SHOPPING!” Papyrus said walking in with a couple of strides.

The monster mascot everyone knew was literally right in front of us. My heart started fluttering just like how it did in the past when I saw him, I couldn’t help but stare. I was so star struck that I dropped the cloth I was holding.

 “Welcome to PetCares sir.” My boss said giving me a slight nudge at the side.

“THANK YOU! OH! WHAT ARE THESE?” He said pointing to a product.

“Oh that’s a pet sling carrier, a Japanese brand that’s to carry things that weigh 5 kilos or less. It’s to carry pets comfortably with good breathability and can be adjusted to be compatible for your pet” I said snapping out of my daze and picking up the dropped cloth.

“AMAZING! FIRST ANIME AND NOW THIS! WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?” Papyrus gleamed and I couldn’t help but giggle.

“What kind of pet does the Great Papyrus have?” Boss inquired hoping to help him.

“ONLY THE BEST KIND IT IS A” He stopped as a click and a flash of light interrupted him.

We looked out and realized a crowd had started forming outside, most of the people there had cameras in their hand. Of course the monster mascot attracted the paparazzi’s attention.

“OH MY IT SEEMS MY ADMIRERS HAVE FOLLOWED ME!” He said nervously.

“Hey you’re not allowed to have cameras here” I said but they pushed me aside to get closer to Papyrus.

“Papyrus look over here!” One of them said followed with flashes of light from the cameras.

“How are the negotiation between the monster ambassador and prime minister going?” One of them brought up curiously.

“GOOD THEY’RE-“

“Are monsters planning to take over the surface?’ One asked with a note on their hand obviously reading the question out because this was something answered so many time.

“OF COURSE NOT, WE JUST WANT TO LIVE TOGETHER IN PEACE” He remarked though it was obvious he had answered this countless of time, his uncomfortable gaze giving it away.

 “Is it true the monster ambassador is just a child?” They interrupted.

“YES BUT-“

“Are you just using a kid to seem innocent?” They had a smirk on their face, the topic was something that they were going to twist in their favour.

“NO” A flash of hurt can be seen in his eyes.

“Why else would”

“HUMANS PLEASE, THIS IS NOT THE APPROPRIATE SETTING FOR AN INTERVIEW!” This time Papyrus interrupted them in a pleading tone.

“Okay people, this is a pet store. Unless you’re here inquire about the pets I’m going to have to ask you all to leave.” Boss said calmly though I could tell their patients was wearing thin as their boots made a loud tapping sound on the ground.

“Just a few minutes of your time please! Everyone is hoping to know more about monsters.” They said though it was obvious they were only harassing Papyrus at this point.

_If these people weren’t going to listen to boss or Papyrus then I had to do something about it._

“We all know that’s a lie! If you’re not going to listen to and leave by choice than I’ll have to make you leave by force!!” I said with a broom in hand.

“You can’t make us leave!” One of them retorted.

“Actually this is my store so yes she can.” My boss smirked and gave a thumbs up.

“YOU HEARD BOSS! GET OUT!” I yelled and raised the broom in the air.

_That got most of them to scramble away and those who remained got a broom to the face before running away as well._

I breathed a sigh of relief as the remaining people in the store was myself, boss and Papyrus.

“I AM SORRY FOR THE DISTURBANCE HUMANS.” He hung his head in shame.

“It’s not your fault and my helper here took care of it anyway.” Boss had a grin plastered on their face.

“INDEED SHE DID! HOW COULD I EVER THANK YOU FOR YOUR TROUBLE?“ He said with a grateful tone as he raised his head to look at me.

_Ah what the hell, he asked so I might as well shoot a suggestion._

“You could go to lunch with me tomorrow.” I winked throwing finger guns at his direction.

“OF COURSE! A DATE WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS THE SOLUTION! ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU MY NUMBER!” His eyes sparkled as he scribbled his number onto a paper.

“Wait really?” I asked in shock, dropping my finger guns.

“OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS INTENDS TO STAY TRUE TO HIS WORDS! I MUST BE OFF NOW NYEHEHEH” The skeleton gave me the paper with his number on it and walked out cackling.

_The Great Papyrus just gave me his number…_

“Smooth moves, didn’t think you were into bony men” Boss chuckled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Uh… I uh…” I had a blank stare, holding the paper still.

“Didn’t expect to get his number?” They asked.

“I did not expect to get his number at all.” I said still processing what happened.

“Well, as much as I like teasing you, let’s get back to work.” They winked, letting go of my shoulder and went to the counter.

“Right.” I pocketed the paper and shake myself out of that daze.

I needed to finish cleaning up the animal enclosures. After that I had to take them out of the playroom into the enclosure and check our stocks at the back.

Some customers came in and asked what the commotion was earlier about which boss clarified were a group of hecklers. The whole incident was recorded on the CCTV so if they tried to twist the situation to their benefit boss would release it for the public to see.

_Hopefully boss cuts out the part of me with the broom… That was pretty embarrassing._

The customers were glad to hear that and the day went on with people coming in and out like a regular day, some came to coo at the animals and some enquired about the animals.

My lunch break was spend in the break room for some coffee and a waffle I bought nearby before I resumed work. It was a pretty slow day after what happened at the morning and before I knew it we were closing up for the day.

“Boss wait!” I called out as they were approaching their car.

“What’s up?” They stopped where they were and looked back to me.

“I well… I’ve got my letter.” I handed in my resignation letter.

“So you’re really leaving huh?” Boss gave a sad smile.

“Yeah… I’m sorry.” I sighed, I was flying tomorrow and already had everything packed to go and this was one of the last things I had to do before I could move.

“Don’t worry about it kid, good luck with your plans alright? Don’t forget to call that skeleton.” They grinned and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I won’t. Thank you for the reminder.” I smiled back and held on the hand on my shoulder.

“You’re a good kid, I’ll miss you.” They hugged me. Boss has always treated me well since I started working here and showed me the ropes.  I would miss them a lot when I leave.

“I’ll miss you too.” Tears fell from my eyes as I hugged them back.

“Don’t be a stranger, hey don’t cry. You can call me anytime kiddo” They released their grip and they wiped my tears with a cloth.

They got into their car, giving me one final wave that I returned with another wave.

I walked home slowly and reached home with no problems, passing my family and going up to my room.

The side of my head felt an ache, my eyes were itchy from crying earlier so I quickly washed it. I pulled up the pocketed paper and added the new number as THE GREAT PAPYRUS into my phone.

‘Hey this is Lady A from the pet store, just wanted to tell you I got off work and wanted to see if we could make plans for tomorrow, don’t mean to disturb you from anything important’ I nervously send the message, I laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling,

_Oh god I just realized that I didn’t even introduce myself properly at the pet store. What if he doesn’t actually remember me?_

The phone buzzing immediately pulled me off my thoughts and I shot up from the bed and pulled the phone to my face.

‘GREETINGS HUMAN, DO NOT WORRY FOR YOU ARE NOT DISTURBING THE GREAT PAPYRUS FROM ANYTHING! I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO ARRANGE PLANS FOR OUR DATE TOMORROW’

‘Well there’s a good place I know at Food Street, are you familiar with the area?’ I’m being worried over nothing, he clearly remembers.

‘OF COURSE! I HAVE SPEND THE WHOLE DAY GOING THROUGH THE CITY!’

‘Wow, that’s amazing. Hopefully your fan club doesn’t swarm you tomorrow, I don’t think I can chase them away with a broom there. :P’ I giggled to myself as I send the text.

‘OF COURSE! DO NOT WORRY FOR I WILL WEAR A DISGUISE!’

‘Alright, looking forward to it Papyrus, I’ll see you there tomorrow for lunch at 12pm’

_I wonder what kind of disguise he’ll wear._

‘INDEED, GOODBYE FOR NOW LADY A!’

After I read the last text, I gave a sigh of relief and put down my phone to the side. Resting my eyes, the bed was so comfy and I slowly drifted into sleep.

_**zZzZz** _

I was behind the boulder, my eyes were fixed onto the tall skeleton named Papyrus, and my heart was still fluttering from his overall excitement.

“I could stand here and watch this for hours…” The purple caped golden mane Nubian Goat stated.

“Yes, it is beautiful, is it not? But we should really think about what comes next.” The shorter Nubian Goat in the purple robe noted.

“Oh right. Everyone, this is the beginning of a bright new future. An era of peace between humans and monster. Frisk… I have something to ask of you. Will you act as our ambassador to the humans?” I assumed the goats were the king and queen as the king looked at the child.

“Yes.” A soft voice came out from the child named Frisk.

“YEAH! FRISK WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR! AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE THE BEST MASCOT! I’LL GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!” Papyrus boasted and ran off into a direction following a path to the city.

“welp, someone’s gotta keep him from getting into trouble. see you guys.” The shorter skeleton stated, I believe Papyrus called them Sans earlier.

He walks in a different direction completely though.

_Oh shit he's closing in to the boulder I'm hiding behind!_

The sound of footsteps grew closer and I started panicking, I didn't want to be caught spying on them. I placed my hand by my mouth and hold my breath as his back faces me.

_Oh god please don’t turn back._

He shuffles a bit and my face felt blue from the lack of air but instead of turning towards me he just disappears into thin air.

_What the heck?_

**_RING RING RING_ **

I hear ringing and this time I didn’t fight it as the world shifts.

I wake up with a gasp and I slam my hand to stop the alarm from ringing anymore. The dream had my heart beating hard and fast against my chest. I was drenched in sweat and I couldn’t help but feel anxious.

It was 4 years ago I remind myself as I got off the bed, I decided to take a hot shower to relax.

By the time I was done all I could think about was my upcoming date with Papyrus. I needed to get dressed but what should I wear? I haven’t been in a date for so long but I did have a closet full of clothes to go through.

After a few hours I finished picking an outfit to go out in. I looked into the mirror, I was pretty pale since I didn't go out much, my eyes were light blue and my hair was straight and long reaching down to my waist. I coloured it copper but hadn’t found the time to touch up the brown roots growing in.

The plain baby blue high waist dress fitting snugly to accentuate my body type. I had the figure of an hourglass but I was on the heavier side.

_I did have a pair of 36G cup breasts and my womanly hips weren’t half bad though._

Moving away from the mirror, I sat on the edge of the bed to wear my knee high white stockings that was adorned with the design of sky-blue flowers called forget-me-not.

It was almost time, I should go early and find a good place to seat. I take my purse from the table and make my way to go out.

“Where are you going?” My mother asked.

“I’m going out for lunch at Food Street.” I said putting on my navy kitten heels.

“Oh, well be back before 2.” She waved a finger at me.

“Will do, see you later alligator!” I sang out the end to the song.

“After ‘while crocodile” She sang back and waved me off.

I reached the place 15 minutes earlier than the set time but I already see Papyrus there, in a very noticeable brown coat, brown hat and sunglasses that he somehow wore.

“Papyrus? Is that your disguise?” I asked with a smile.

“WOWIE! YOU MUST HAVE REALLY SHARP EYES TO NOTICE ME WHILE I AM IN MY DISGUISE HUMAN!” He said.

“You can say that, I don’t think your disguise is working though... Everyone’s staring at us” I took a seat and looked over to the side, most of the people turned away but some kids were just staring wide eyed at the two of us.

“OH, I THOUGHT PEOPLE WERE JUST STARING BECAUSE YOU LOOK STUNNING!” He practically shouted and I could feel my face heat up.

“Haha thanks, you don’t have to say that though.” I giggled.

“BUT I HAVE ALREADY SAID IT” He looked puzzled.

“I’m trying to be humble, you wore something special too right?” I teased with a wink.

“OF COURSE! BE PREPARED HUMAN!” He took off his disguise in one swoop which was amazing because he was still wearing his gloves. Striking a pose that would show off his biceps if he had the muscle that is but his bones were still pretty impressive.

With the coat removed, it revealed a white shirt with the word cool dude on it printed in blue, his brown hat was replaced with a red backwards cap and blue shorts with 2 yellow buttons. He had red basketballs on his shoulders and he wore a pair of red and orange sneakers with white socks on. The outfit exposing some parts of his bones.

“Wow, you pull that off really well” Maybe it was his confident smile or the way he presented the outfit but I was genuinely impressed.

“NYEH! THANK YOU HUMAN! UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE NOT BROUGHT THE HIDDEN POWER OF THIS OUTFIT DUE TO US HAVING LUNCH IN THIS ESTABLISHMENT!” He sighed.

“Speaking of lunch, why don’t we order something off the menu, is there something that caught your interest?” I asked, the more time I spend with him the more curious I got every second.

 _Can skeletons even eat?_  I pondered as I call the waiter to take our order.

“THE ANGEL HAIR PASTA IN GARLIC SAUCE SEEMS LIKE THE BEST CHOICE” He pointed to a part of the menu.

“We’ll have two of that then, is green tea alright?” I looked over to Papyrus.

“I DO ENJOY TEA!” He nodded and I confirmed for a pot of tea with the waiter who gave a strange look at the two of us but gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he wrote down our orders in a notepad.

“Wow, how do you tell the type of pasta so easily?” I asked.

“I DO COOK SPAGHETTI IN MY SPARE TIME, YOU MUST TRY IT NEXT TIME!” he puffed up confidently.

“Oh, are we going to go on more dates?” I winked.

“IT IS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY!” He brought a finger up and I giggled.

“Well consider me sold then” The pot of tea was brought over, I thanked the waiter as they left.

“WHAT? WHO HAS BOUGHT YOU?” He widened his eyes in surprise.

“It’s just a saying, so what kind of pet do you have?” I poured the tea and chuckled.

“I HAVE A PET ROCK WE’VE TAKEN CARE OF SINCE WE’VE BEEN UNDERGROUND, WE BROUGHT IT TO THE SURFACE WITH US OF COURSE.” He said as he took a sip of the tea.

_How did he drink it? The floor wasn’t wet so it wasn’t going through him._

“Pet rock huh? That’s interesting. I used to live nearby Mount Ebott” I brought up.

“OH? HOW COME I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU? I WAS SURE I’VE MET EVERYONE AROUND”

“Well that might have to do with me moving away because my family was uhm…”

“AFRAID OF MONSTERS? DO NOT WORRY, I KNOW THAT HUMANS ARE JUST AFRAID OF WHAT THEY DO NOT KNOW. I KNOW THEY’LL CHANGE THEIR MIND WHEN THEY MEET US IN PERSON!” He said it so nonchalantly, he must’ve been used to it all already.

“Yeah, my grandmother especially is pretty afraid of monsters...  Personally I’m not really afraid of monsters, just a bit curious.” I say honestly.

“THAT’S UNDERSTANDABLE I AM ALSO QUITE CURIOUS OF HUMANS! MY BROTHER TOLD ME THAT EVERY HUMAN HAD A SKELETON IN THEM THOUGH IT’S VERY MUCH DIFFERENT FROM US, YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE MY CONFUSION WHEN FRISK SHOWED US THEIR X-RAY!”

At the mention of his brother, I couldn’t help but shiver as a chill ran down my back thinking back of the shorter skeleton.

_Did he know I was behind that boulder?_

“IS SOMETHING THE MATTER?” He asked with a worried look since I shivered out of the blue.

“It’s nothing, just a slight chill, I’m sure the meal will warm me up” I say as the waiter arrives with our food.

“WELL LET’S ENJOY THIS MEAL WHILE IT’S PIPING HOT THEN!” He takes a fork and begins digging in.

I dig in to the pasta as well though I couldn’t help but stare at the way he ate. He looked up with a tilt of his head and I quickly stared down and resumed eating.

Once I was done, I looked up and noticed he was staring at me.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked.

“NO, I AM JUST CURIOUS ABOUT HOW HUMANS EAT, I DIDN’T KNOW SOME SHAKE SO MUCH WHILE EATING” I looked down and realized I had been shaking my leg this whole time and quickly halted it.

_I must have started shaking my legs when I stared at him._

“Ahaha, n-no most people don’t shake their legs while they eat. I’m uhm” I laughed thought at the inside I was internally screaming from embarrassment.

“YOU MUST BE NERVOUS HUMAN, I KNOW IT MAY BE NERVE WRECKING TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GREAT PAPRUS SOMETIMES!” He boasted though it did help calm my nerves that he didn’t think I was weird, it helped to calm my nerves.

_Breath, calm breaths, in and out slowly._

“Yeah, definitely. I’m enjoying getting to know you” I replied.

“I AM TOO! THOUGH OUR INTERACTION MIGHT BE LIMITED ONCE THE GREAT PAPYRUS RETURNS HOME” His smile seemed to falter at that.

“Actually, I’m moving back soon so you won’t have to miss me too much” I smiled and poured the last bit of tea for the two of us.

“THAT’S GREAT NEWS! I CAN INTRODUCE YOU TO EVERYONE AND SHOW YOU THE LOVING TRADITION OF PUZZLES SO WE CAN BECOME GREATER FRIENDS” His eyes gleamed and he said it all with so much excitement.

“Yeah I would love that, I can contact you once everything’s sorted.” I said as I finished the last bit of tea in my cup.

“OF COURSE! I HAVE GIVEN YOU MY NUMBER TO CONTACT ME AFTER ALL.” He pulled out his phone to emphasize. I nodded and looked at the time.

_It was already 1:30, I had better wrap things up if I wanted to reach home before 2._

“Bill please.” I say as the waiter came to take the finished dishes away.

“Here’s is the bill sir.” He brought the bill to Papyrus and the waiter didn’t bother to hide his face of disgust.

_Probably assuming monsters were rich because of their gold._

“AH YES, ALLOW ME HUMAN.” Papyrus tried to pull out his wallet and pay but I stop his hand.

“I called for the bill. I’m paying.” I smiled a tight smile at the waiter.

“O-of course” The waiter nervously walked towards me and I shot him a glare as I paid the exact amount.

“HAVE I JUST MADE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE?” Papyrus asks with nervousness.

“What. No! The date has been wonderful because of you…” I said with a gentle smile.

“O-OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS THE BEST AT DATING! NYEHEHEH” He stuttered the beginning part, even a confident skeleton like him had his worry huh?

“Hey you know there’s one more thing you forgot to make this date perfect.” I grinned and pulled a finger up.

“WHAT? WHAT COULD IT POSSIBLY BE?” He asked with a confused stare.

“This!” I pull him into a hug and squeeze tight.

“NYEH!” He said in surprise but he hugged back, I could feel a fast beat coming from his chest.

I let him go after a few second. His cheekbones were tinted pink and he smiled with his eyes closed at me.

“THE MANUAL DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HUGS BUT I WILL ACCEPT IT!” He stated and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re really cute, I hope to see you again soon Papyrus. I got to get going now!” I blow him a kiss and start making my way home.

“I’LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME LADY A!” I hear him shout and I looked back to give a wave before continuing my walk away.

My heart was pounding hard against my chest and I could feel my face burning up.

 _I totally hugged a skeleton and called him a cutie! I am so proud of myself, I mean it could’ve gone really wrong if he wasn’t comfortable with it but it worked out and it felt so right_!

I wanted to just squeal in delight but I was still in public, I need to get home or else my mom will give me an earful.

As I approached my house, I noticed all the lights were turned off and the curtains were covered so I couldn’t see anything. Was no one home?

“Hello? Anyone home?” I called out as I opened the door.

**_POP! POP! POP!_ **

“SURPRISE!!!!!” A few voices shouted out accompanied with the sound of party poppers.

“Oh my god!” I brought my hands to my face as I realized what was going on.

“Happy Birthday!” The room was dark since all the curtains were pulled back and the only light was from the candles on a cake. I could see the outlines of my grandparents from my mother’s side and my parent huddled around the cake.

“All this for me?” I asked in awe.

“No lah, for me. Of course it’s for you!” My father chuckled with his phone recording everything.

“You’re moving away today and we just wanted to wish you the best honey. Now make a wish!” My mother said holding the cake.

My father make a woot sound as I blew the candles off and my grandfather turned on the lights.

“Can’t wait to celebrate me finally moving out?” I asked.

“Hah, if that was the case you’d have been kicked out sooner!” My father laughed and gave a pat at my back.

I cut the cake and after cutting a slice for everyone I took a taste, it was my favourite type, chocolate cheesecake.

“We got you something for you to bring with you.” My mother shared a look with my dad and held out a light jade pendant in the shape of a tear in a gold necklace.

“It’s so beautiful, thank you!” I cooed and hugged them both.

“Here, let me help you get it on.” I pulled my hair up as my father hooked the necklace on for me.

“Eh, I got you something too, here.” My grandfather chuckled and passed me a red envelope.

“Thank you” I laughed as I accepted it. He probably put a large amount of money he didn’t want the rest of the family knowing about. I put the red envelope into my purse.

“You sure you want to go alone ah?” My grandmother asked in a stern tone.

_Is she really asking me if I want to go back on the day I'm moving?_

“Yes, I’ve made my decision.” I said in a matter of fact tone, I needed to make my motive clear to my grandmother or else she would try to change my mind again.

“Well I don’t approve of you going back alone but you’ve made your mind so here.” She sighed and pulled out a piece of paper.

“What is this?” I take it and I gasp once I read what it was.

“You’re moving back in the old place right? Well that old place is yours now. I’m giving you the deed.” She crosses her arms and looked away with a huff.

_She was always disapproving of me going back, the fact that she had written the deed of that old place in my name really meant a lot from the old cranky grandmother I knew and loved._

“THANK YOU!” I cried out and pulled her into a hug. My grandmother pushed me away and I took a step back with a laugh.

“Make sure to tell us when you get there.” My mother shook her finger at me and I nodded.

“I will, Thank you for everything!” I bowed and straightened up with a smile.

“Well, it’s almost time. Get your stuff, I’ll drive you to the airport.” My father stated with his car keys in hand.

Most of my stuff have already been boxed up and shipped in advance so everything else in this room was practically filled like a guest room now. I took my two luggage from my room and after giving one final look I close the door and started moving them to the car.

“I love you all.” I say as I pulled my family to another hug before I got into the car. This time even my grandmother hugged back.

_My family wasn’t perfect but they damn sure as hell tried their best and that was really what mattered the most right now._

The drive felt almost too short, but checking the time showed that it really wasn’t the case and we barely got here on time. We walked to the lobby of the airport and my stomach flipped from nervousness.

“Happy birthday my daughter.” My father wished as he pulled me into a hug.

“Thanks dad.” I mumbled and held onto the hug longer.

_This was the last time we were going to hold each other for a very long time, who knows when I’ll return back here again…_

My father pulled away from the hug first and I hesitantly pulled back as well. I waved at him and he waved back before turning his back to get back to his car.

I get my bag checked and now was boarding the plane. I felt sick and excited all at the same time, following my ticket, I take a seat next to the window.

The air stewardess said a few lines of safety procedures. I stared outside as the plane lifted off the ground, I was finally going back to my old home.

_Is this really worth it? Am I going to be happy with my decision of going back?_

I pull out my phone and plug in my earphones to play some tunes to drown out the thoughts going on in my mind.

Before I knew it the plane had landed, I turn off the music and follow the line to get off the plane and pick up my luggage.

_I wonder if I can use Uber to bring me there._

I scrolled through the app and noted down the location but it didn’t seem to work for some reason. I refreshed a few times until finally it showed someone willing to drive me there. The River Person? The picture of the vehicle was a boat with legs and a dog head. I checked their bio and it seemed like they were a monster. I connected to them and after confirming the price and venue I was now waiting for them to arrive.

A few minutes passed and the hooded figure on a dog boat runs over to my position.

“Are you the river person?” I ask and they nod so I take my luggage and move it onto the boat dog thing.

“Tra la la, I was the river person underground. Now I love to ride in my boat anywhere” They said in a low voice as we started moving.

They started humming and it was pretty relaxing, we reach past the city and into the forest.

_I explored the forest a lot in my childhood, there was so much space and my father took us outside during the weekend if the weather was right._

I closed my eyes and I could remember clearly that my family loved it here and only moved when monsters arrived. We shared a lot of happy memories here.

_I wasn’t at a happy moment in my life that day though…_

“We’ve arrived.” I felt a small tap on my shoulder as I stirred awake. They had already helped me unstrap my luggage from the boat and placed it on the ground.

“Ah thanks.” I paid them the amount due and they nodded, they pocket the cash and their boat ran away into a different direction.

_Must be off to their next customer._

I looked towards my house and smiled, the house was 2 story tall and had a rustic feeling to it. It was coloured black with some dark brown accents. The thick fauna surrounding the place made it feel like a secret place, it was pretty far from the city and the closest civilization should be a small town at least 30 minutes away by foot. The road that leads to here wasn’t very well cared so a person would need to be familiar with the area or they might not even be able to tell where the road was.

I still had to tell my family I've arrived safely, I pull up my phone and snap a selfie right at the entrance.

‘I’ve arrived!’ I send to the family chat and tag the selfie I took in front of the house.

After I tagged the picture, I noticed the moving trucks were here, I took the keys out from my purse and used it to open the door to move my luggage in.

I signed to confirm I got my delivery and they rushed in with the boxes and they moved the boxes with a sense of urgency.

“Hey be careful!” There wasn’t anything fragile that wasn’t covered in thick layers of bubble wrap but the way they were moving was worrisome.

_**THUD** _

It wasn’t really a surprise to hear the thud, I looked into the living room to see that one of them had fallen down on their face.

“Sorry ma’am but we’re not staying in The Skeleton Woods any longer than we have to!” The one who fell scrambled up to his feet and ran back to the truck.

_Wait did he just say The Skeleton Woods?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After reading so many amazing works, I decided to write my own take of a reverse-harem where the female protagonist falls in love with the skeletons! Hope you enjoy the story!


	2. Another Dream & Lady A's Home Sweet Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reason why Lady A went to the mountain is revealed and the loneliness of living alone is already setting in. She decides to buy some groceries and bumps into a familiar skeleton and his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter has gone through some minor editing for some mistakes that aren't terribly noticeable while this chapter has gone through a heavier editing to correct some parts of the plot and flow. I hope those who've read this chapter already give it another read since there's been quite a number of changes.

_I’m pretty sure this place wasn’t called “The Skeleton Woods” before. What the hell happened while I was gone?_

As the moving trucks drove off I furrowed my brows and walked into my house, locking the doors after. The living room was still fairly furnished with a couch and coffee table though it was a bit of mess because of the boxes that weren’t exactly neatly placed since those people were in a rush.

The place was pretty dusty since no one has really lived here in a long time but it was fully furnished though, my parents said they tried to rent the place but it was difficult because the agents would report that most of the tenants only stayed for a week and moved away, some even paid the deposit and refused to contact back, leaving the keys in the house most of the time for the agent to retrieve. Maybe the whole Skeleton Woods thing might have something to do with it…

I moved some of the boxes to a neater pile and carry the ones that contained my desktop, modem and router to set up in the master bedroom. I made sure the water and electricity bill to this place was paid before I moved back here so I should be able to use my desktop as soon as I finish setting it up.

_I remember my parents were very hesitant in allowing me to get my own desktop but I eventually convinced them that I would use it responsibly. Though I did end up gaming a lot in the middle of the night when they went outstation._

Once I made sure everything was up and working, I decided to take a quick rinse and change into a turquoise sweater and dark grey leggings for comfort.

It was already dark out by the time I was done so I crawled into the king sized bed and slowly drifted to sleep.

_**zZzZz** _

After the skeleton vanished in thin air, I took my hands off my mouth and started breathing again but it felt like I hadn't breathed in forever. A thought came to mind.

_Why did I go to the mountain?_

_**It started with a message.** _

‘I’m breaking up with you.’

_What._

I read the text over and over. Waiting for him to say something, anything else.

A few minutes passed and nothing.

‘Why?’ I texted back.

_This wasn’t real right?_

‘Chad answer me.’ I texted another message, a green tick appears to the right of my text.

_He’s reading the texts. Why isn’t he answering me?_

‘Chad this isn’t funny.’

_What did I do wrong?_

‘Chad please…’

Green tick, but no reply.

 _Maybe he needed space._ I reasoned but weeks passed.

I tried to talk to him at school but he avoided me like the plague. The whole thing agitated me and everyone around me noticed but I was obsessed to find out what happened.

“Young lady do you know what time is it? Come out of your room!” My grandma shouted knocking at my door.

“It’s the weekend. I’m busy.” I muttered out and stared into my phone, scrolling for any information I could find on his social media.

“Always busy, busy, busy. Don’t need eat ah? Come out!” she knocked harder.

“I’m busy. I’ll eat later so just get off my back!” I shouted and curled up in bed.

_I still couldn’t find anything._

“Fine! Wallow in your sorrow till you die then!” I hear her stomp off.

I curl up in bed and started crying hard.

“What’s wrong? Ask your useless daughter!” I hear my grandmother shout from below. Most likely to my mother.

_I just wanted to know the truth…_

**And I got what I wished for.**

It was after school, I saw him at the alleyway, and he was holding hands with another girl, laughing and kissing her on the cheek. I felt my heart ache inside of me from the scene before me.

“Chad!” I shouted his name out and caught both of their attention.

The girl jumped and whispered to him and stared at me with wide eyes. Chad looked furious but I didn’t care anymore, I’ve waited so long and I’m not going to lose the chance to talk to him and clear things up once and for all. He whispered into the girl’s ear and with a nod from the girl she walked off quickly and it was just me and him in the alleyway.

“Is that why you haven’t responded to any of my messages?’ I asked softly looking towards the walking girl.

“What’s it to you? I broke up with you already.” He stated so coldly it made me feel a pang on my chest.

“If you broke up with me for another girl couldn’t you have just said so?” I had my left arm crossing my chest and touching my right arm that hanged loosely to my side.

“Couldn’t you have just left me alone?” He retorted, his arms crossed and he looked so annoyed with me.

“You just broke up with me through a text without any explanation! Just a day before that text, you said you loved me, I- I loved you!” I choked out the last bit.

_We dated for two years and he just ended it like that. Of course I'd want to know why._

"I’m sorry okay? I didn’t love you as much as I thought I did.” He said with a tone that was soft and sounded apologetic.

“Why did you even date me for so long then?” I said with the last bit of conviction in me that wanted to know the truth, little hope was left in my tone.

“Why? You’re asking why? I already told you I thought I loved you! Do you have a hearing problem now too? I mean the only reason why I dated you was because you confessed to me and well I wanted to give it a shot. I didn’t think you were such an oversensitive baby! Thinking about it now, all you ever did when we dated was whine and cry about everything!” He shouted, voice shaking with anger.

"What?" I couldn’t say anything else in respond to him. I was just in shock and stared at him.

“You heard me. Nobody likes you, everyone just pities you. You’re fucking useless and you get hurt by every little thing. The two years with you have been the worst time of my life! ” He spat out.

Tears starting welling in my eyes, I tried to not let the tears fall but failed as streaks of tears started flowing down on my cheeks.

“See, you’re crying again like always! That’s all you’re good for you big baby. Why don't you be useful for once and kill yourself?” He scoffed and started walking away.

I fell down to my knees and tears kept falling and I couldn’t stop them from falling. I sniffled as snot ran down my nose, I wiped most of it off with my hand towel but the sobbing just got more and more uncontrollable.

_**But it’s in the past now.** _

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. I felt tears on my cheeks and groaned tiredly to get up.

_After that incident, I took his words seriously and made the resolve to disappear that day. I made my way to the mountains, specifically to Mount Ebott to end it all. But then I saw the monsters cross the barrier._

_I was so excited to find out more about them, but life had other plans. I didn't account for the fact that my family_   _wanted nothing to do with monsters. My family had told me to pack up, we were leaving as soon as possible. I had to leave everyone I knew and I didn't get the chance to even interact with a single monster and it hurt me to leave, I promised myself that I would come back as soon as I could._

I got up and made my way to wash my face and brush my teeth. It was so quiet. The house was completely silent, I was used to at least hearing the TV turned on with my grandmother watching it or something. I really wasn't used to being all by myself, my heart tugged as the feeling of loneliness set in.

_Wait no, stop tugging like that stupid heart!_

I furrowed my brows, it hasn’t even been a day and I’m already being a mopey little shit? This is the first time I’ve been independent! I should be excited and do things I’ve never gotten the chance to!

_I’ll prove to them, no, to myself. I can do this! Though what do I do first? Hm…I guess I’ll start by checking out the town nearby. I don’t really feel like taking care of the pile of boxes in the living room right now. I need to buy some groceries and stuff anyway._

Once in town, I went into the small market. There was a number of monsters and humans here and there as I passed the aisle looking for the things I needed.

_I could use more tea and some readymade food at least for this week. I don’t think I’ll have time to cook since I’ll be spending the next few days unpacking…_

I look over some tea and notice Papyrus across the store. He looked a bit different though, he was wearing an orange baggy hoodie.

_It’s probably just a casual wear for him, even the monster mascot would need some down time after all. I mean I’m wearing a different outfit right now too!_

I stared a bit longer, he was comparing 2 bottles of honey and he looks up to see me staring. Busted. I blushed and he gave a smirk from catching me and threw a wink at me.

_Oh my god he can wink. I mean I shouldn’t be surprised they’re skeleton monsters not skeletons but still I was surprised. Wait stop being surprised, react back!_

I lean forward and kiss my hand and blow it to his direction with a wink as well towards his direction.

_Hah! He’s blushing… I think?_

His face was tinted orange and he had a smirk plastered on his face and he placed the honey bottles into his shopping cart.

_Huh, wasn’t his blush pink before?_

He looked like he was about to walk here but then he turns his head to the left to a shorter skeleton with a blue bandana scarf. Okay did they swap outfits? The shorter skeleton looked like he was wearing the battle armour that Papyrus normally wore except it was in a grey and blue colour palette instead. The shorter skeleton looked like he was talking to Papyrus and didn’t notice me at all, the two of them walked away from the aisle they were at.

_I should get back to shopping._

I went back to shopping and was now carrying a few bags. I got some tea and a few bundle pack of ramen that should last me the week. I got a few varying of snacks to go with my favourite condiment Kewpie Mayonnaise! I also bought some cleaning supplies to help me clean up the place, there were still some at home but it’s never bad to have some extras!

_Once everything’s nice and proper I could try to reach out some old friends. Friends who were not Chad. I didn’t really keep in touch with any of them except one person but if what Chad said was true then I don’t need those kind of people in my life anyway and-_

**THOOM**

I was so busy with my thoughts that I didn’t noticed where I was going and fell backwards onto my ass with all my groceries.

_Ow my ass._

“HUMAN ARE YOU OKAY?”

“Yeah I’m fine, my buns aren’t though.” I complained.

 _Wait, that voice…_  I looked up and saw Papyrus in a white chest plate with gold trim, orange-red gloves with gold trim, blue briefs with a golden belt, and knee-high, orange-red boots with a short orange-red cape. He was wearing the outfit I saw him at the pet store.

“Papyrus?” I called out, my head was still spinning a bit as I staggered up and picked myself up, patting the dirt off my clothes. 

“LADY A! I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU AGAIN SO SOON!” He said and picked up some of my groceries to hand to me.

_But didn’t we see each other earlier?_

“Yeah, oh, thanks.” I gratefully took the groceries, luckily nothing was made of glass so all of it should be fine.

“WHEN DID YOU RETURN?” He asked.

“I just arrived yesterday, how about you?” I asked back.

“WOWIE! YOU SURE MOVE FAST, I JUST GOT BACK TODAY!” He stated and I giggled in respond.

“Well it’s good to see you again Papyrus but I should get back home now.” I sighed, I still had so much cleaning up to do at home.

“ALLOW ME TO SEND YOU HOME THEN AS AN APOLOGY! I HAD CARELESSLY BUMPED INTO YOU AFTER ALL AND I COULD SHOW YOU MY SICK RIDE TOO!” He offered.

_Well I would reach home sooner if I accepted the offer._

“Sounds good, lead the way.” I said after pondering a little.

“NYEHEHEH FOLLOW ME!” I did so and smiled, I couldn't help but find his laugh cute.

I followed him to a car park and I saw a shorter skeleton next to an open roof red car, he was wearing an unzipped blue hoodie with a white shirt underneath, black shorts with white stripes, and a pair of sneakers. He looked exactly like he did in my dream.

_I guess skeleton monsters are just really good at changing quickly?_

“you must be lady a.” he was smiling but his smile made me nervous for some reason.

“Y-yeah” I stuttered out.

“i’m sans. sans the skeleton.” He said as he reached a hand out to me.

I held my hand out hesitantly to shake his.

**Pooooooooot**

“whoops, i had a joke here but it seems i _blew_  it” His smile widened and his dimples raised as he gave a wink.

“SANS!” Papyrus shouted in a frustrated tone.

I looked confused and stared between the two for a moment.

_Was that a fart pun?_

Now getting it, I giggled.

“come on bro, she liked it.” Sans said and I coughed to stop giggling.

“LET’S JUST GO SANS!” Papyrus stated grumpily and opened the door for me.

“Ah thanks, wait is there enough space in the car? It looks like it's only a two-seater” I asked as I got a better look at the car.

“IT WILL BE FINE!” He insisted.

“I can just walk home if there’s no space” I continued.

“don’t worry, i’ll just ride with this baby here” Sans stated and confused I looked at him.

**ring ring.**

By his side stood a tricycle, I give him a look of disbelief.

_How the hell is he going to keep up on that thing?_

“heh, you don’t seem convinced. how about i show you what this baby can do.” His grin widened.

“Is this really alright?” I looked at Papyrus who nodded in respond.

“DO NOT BE FOOLED BY ITS APPEARANCE, LET US RACE BROTHER!”

“okay.”

“If you say so, my house is in the Ebott Forest are you familiar with the area?” I took a seat in the passenger seat.

“INDEED, MY BROTHER AND I LIVE IN THERE AS WELL!” He started the ignition.

_Were they the reason why they call it the Skeleton Woods?_

“HAVE YOU BUCKLED UP?” Papyrus questioned, looking at me.

“On it, safety first after all.” the sound of the seat belt clicked in place as I said so.

“INDEED, READY BROTHER?” He looked to the other side to his brother.

“yep” He gave a lazy smile as he sat on his tricycle.

_Let’s see how well this goes then._

Papyrus drove fast and I was glad to be wearing seat belts because wow he could really drive.

“Isn’t this a bit fast, will your brother be able to catch up?” I asked once I got used to the breeze

“HAVE FAITH, WE NEED AS MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE AS WE CAN GET!”

True to his words, Sans caught up and he gave a wink and overtook us on his fucking tricycle.

“How. The. Fuck.”

“HOLD ON TIGHT LADY A!” He drove faster and I held onto my seat.

_Oh god he’s a speed demon, well this is worrisome._

Somehow he was still under the speed limit and we managed to catch up to Sans. We got in the forest in 5 minutes flat, neck to neck with his brother.

“LOOKS LIKE IT’S A TIE”

“seems like it bro”

My head was spinning from how fast we were going and I was shaking from the whole experience.

“I don’t feel so well.” My face turned green and I opened the door to puke but I only dry heaved instead.

“it wasn’t that bad was it?” Sans asked.

“HUMAN WILL YOU BE ALRIGHT?” He looked so guilty and handed me a bottle of water.

“I’ll be fine, let’s go slower next time. I don’t have the stomach for these kind of things.” I said and drank the water he offered gratefully.

“like a skeleton?” Sans winked with a chuckle. I couldn’t help but giggle as well, I took a breath of relief as everything in my stomach stayed down.

“Thanks for sending me home anyway, would you two like to come in for tea?” I set the things I bought on the ground as I opened the door.

“THAT WOULD BE NICE!” Papyrus beamed and looked over to his bro.

“sure, why not?” Sans shrugged out, he had a relaxed vibe around him.

“Come on in then. Just go in the living room” I told them as I set everything in the kitchen and filled up the electric kettle I bought earlier and turned on the switch to start boiling some water.

“you sure this is the living room because i think this could be the boxing room instead.” Sans said as he looked at the pile of boxes around.

I chuckled as they sat on the couch and I pulled out some cups from the cupboard and gave them a rinse before placing the tea bag and boiling water into it. I also got some snacks I bought from the store and poured them into a clean bowl.

“Sorry it’s a bit of a mess, I moved yesterday and I’m getting around to cleaning up this week.” I said and placed the tray with the tea and snacks onto the coffee table.

“it’s fine, i was just trying to be  _humerus._ ” Sans winked as he picked up one of the cup of tea.

I didn’t really look when Papyrus and I went to a date so I took my chances now to satiate my curiosity now while we were having tea and snacks. The two of them took a few moment before drinking and eating. The food glowed slightly with a bit of orange and blue before they ate it, was that their magic? Guess that would explain how they eat.

“IT IS QUITE A MESS BUT I COULD HELP YOU CLEAN UP AND WE COULD GET IT DONE IN NO TIME!” Papyrus said as he finished his cup of tea.

“You sure? There’s a lot of boxes.” I asked, the help would be really appreciated though at the back of my head I could hear my grandma nagging at me that it wasn't proper to let guests help in these kind of things. She would go like:

_How dare you let guests do your chores? Wait… are those monsters? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU INVITED THEM?_

_Okay maybe she would be nagging about other things._

“IT WOULD BE NO PROBLEM AT ALL, WE’LL HAVE IT CLEAN SO SOON YOU’LL BE FREE FOR THE WEEK!” He declared and stood up.

“eh, i’ll just watch and cheer for the two of you.” Sans said as he sipped more of the tea.

“YOU CAN’T FOOL ME THIS TIME SANS, I SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU! YOUR CHEERING ALWAYS ENDS WITH YOU SLEEPING!” Papyrus pointed a look of accusation at him.

I snickered at the accidental pun he made and Sans gave a small laugh.

“what can i say i’m a _lazy bone_ ”

“Guess you could say he’s a _lazy bone_ ”

We both uttered the same pun at unison and turned our head to stare at each other for a second and ended up howling in laughter at the perfect timing. Papyrus groaned and covered his face with both of his gloved hand.

“ _tibia_  honest with you i think that was a perfect coincidence” He dished out.

“Could say it’s a real  _rib tickler_!” I dished back and laughed harder.

“YOU TWO MAKE ME SICK!” Despite his complaint, Papyrus had a huge smile on his face and laughed a bit as well.

“Well bro, if you’re feeling ill you should check the doctor to see if you caught a  _femur_ ”

“We should stop, or else we’ll be milking these jokes  _bone dry_!”

“can’t help if we’re starting to _pick at bones_!”

“I can’t breath” I wheezed out and held onto my side as I tried my best to take in some air into my lungs

“URGH! WHILE I’M GLAD YOU TWO ARE HAVING FUN, I RATHER WE START HELPING YOU NOW LADY A!” Papyrus stated and I tried my best to respond but anytime I tried a few stray laugh would escape me so I had to take a moment to let it all out.

“heh sorry bro, how about this, i’ll help out to show my appreciation.” Sans chuckled a bit more.

“EXCELLENT, LET US START WHILE LADY A TAKES A BREATHER! PUT SOME _BACKBONE_ INTO IT BROTHER! NYEH HEH HEH!” I tried to say something but ended up giggling at his pun.

The two of them started as I tried to collect myself between wheezing and little laughs. Once I let out all the remaining stray laughs I took a few deep breaths to calm down. The two of them had pulled out some boxes and started placing them in the appropriate area. They approached close to the boxes filled with my clothes and one that contained a few of my private possession.

“I’m going to bring these to my room” I stated and quickly took them to my room.

 _That could’ve been embarrassing._  I quickly placed the box down on the bed, when I came down most of the boxes were already cleared up. There was only like 2 boxes left by the time I came down.

_Woah Papyrus wasn’t kidding when he said it would be done in no time._

The rest of the kitchen appliances were already set up, heck almost all of the living room stuff was set up too.

“You guys really work fast!” I said and they both turned their head to me.

“NYEHEH OF COURSE! WITH ALL THE TRAINING WE’VE DONE THIS IS A PIECE OF CAKE!” Papyrus puffed his chest.

“we didn’t really know what to do with those 2 boxes so we left it there neatly.” Sans pointed to the 2 boxes I noticed earlier.

“I’ll take care of it. Thanks a lot, you guys really saved me a lot of time.” I took the box and it was mostly decorations and more stuff I could take care of quickly by myself.

“NYEHEHEH! YOU ARE MOST WELCOMED! OH DEAR IT’S ALREADY SO LATE! I MUST GET GOING AND START COOKING!” Papyrus looked at the clock in the living room.

“i’ll linger a bit longer.” Sans said and they both shared a short but questionable look that went by in a flash.

“ALRIGHT, DON’T BE LATE FOR DINNER SANS! OH AND HERE IS OUR ADDRESS LADY A!” Papyrus stated and passed me a piece of paper that was a bit of scribbling that I could barely understand.

Just like that, Papyrus was out the door and driving off.

“isn’t my bro cool?” Sans sighed happily.

“The coolest.” I smiled, these two were such great brothers. 

It was as if he turned off the lights and time stood still, he faced me and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. 

“the first time you saw me, you were afraid of me huh? I could tell just by your expression, you have nothing to worry about though. i’m not dangerous unless you harm my bro, if you do, there’ll be hell to pay.” he gave me a tightened grin and as he warned me to not harm his brother his white pupils disappeared.

Okay this conversation got serious really quick, I started feeling Goosebumps on my skin.

_Uh... was I supposed to respond because I wasn’t exactly sure how to._

“but so far you’re one of the nicer human we’ve come across and i don’t want you be to get hurt so here's a piece of advice, be careful where you step, there’s a lot of traps and puzzles and you’ll probably be fine heh.” his white pupils returned and his grin relaxed.

“Thanks for the advice” I smiled, I’ll be able to take care of myself but the warning was nice.

“also be careful of my bro’s food. It’s to die for, not literally but you’ll probably come close.”

“It can’t be that bad” I said though seeing his expression he didn't seem to be joking.

“you’ll see, welp that’s all i wanted to say. i’ll have to get going now.” he shrugged and walked away.

**ring ring**

God damn it, I hear that speedy physic defying tricycle outside ring and he gave a chuckle before riding off. I shake my head and let out a laugh myself and close the door.

_Well that was fun, that last moment was a bit worrisome but I guess if I had a sibling I would be just as protective of them as well._

I felt something in my pocket and pulled it out, it was a piece of paper in what I assumed to be written by Sans.

‘here’s a better direction to our place, my bro’s cool but his handwritten could rival a doctor's.’

_How thoughtful, I should visit tomorrow._

I hear my ringtone and pick up the phone to see the name Lady B flashed across the screen.

_It’s my best friend, Lady B!_

“Hey asshat, you back home yet?” She asked in a haughty tone. Yeap that was my best friend alright.

“Yeah I’m back home! What up bitch.” I said smoothly without missing a beat.

We both giggled, we threw insults at each other but it always had an endearing undertone to them. She cleared up her throat a bit.

“Nothing much, you free right now?” She asked.

“Yeah, everything’s already set up at my home!” I said with a grin.

“Wow you work quickly, what happened to the lazy ass I know from 4 years ago?” She teased.

“She’s still here, I met a skeleton yesterday before I moved and we bumped into each other again today and he and his brother really helped!” I said waving my arms as if she could see them.

“That’s not an innuendo is it?” She questioned with an unsure tone.

“B!!” I whined out.

“Kidding, kidding, glad you could get things set up so quickly, since you'll be free do you wanna hang out tomorrow night then?” She asked.

“Did you have a place in mind?” I asked pondering.

“There’s an awesome monster pub called Grillby’s in town, it’s a popular place and we could have some drinks too.”

“Sounds awesome, can you pick me up tomorrow at 8pm then?”

_I wasn’t really familiar with the place anymore so I would probably get lost trying to find the place without a ride._

“Yeah of course, so tell me more about these skeletons you met.” She brought up and I felt a blush creep up on my face.

“Okay uh so one of them is pretty tall and the other one is slightly taller than me.” I trailed not really knowing where to start.

“Not difficult seeing as how you’re 5 foot.” She pointed out.

“Hey, not the point!” I pouted out.

“Sorry, go on” She chuckled and I huffed in respond.

“Anyway I went on a date with the taller one yesterday before I flew and it was really pleasant! I mean the last time I dated was with… you know who _._ ” I mumbled out the last part.

_Chad._

“Yeah… Not really hard to beat if he’s the only comparison you have.” I could hear her rolling her eyes at the other end.

“Well okay so the taller skeleton’s named Papyrus, I'm pretty sure you're familiar with him."

"Of course, monster mascot, really energetic dude." She said amused.

"Well he's a really cool guy and just so sweet. I met his brother today too, who's choke full of puns, we made a lot of puns together and I ended up having trouble breathing as it kept going from laughing so hard.” I beamed as I explained to her.

“Is that why you didn't contact me when you reached here? I mean I'm glad you’ve been having so much fun without me.” She had a betrayed tone as she did a little hmpf at the end.

“Don’t be like that baby, you know I love you.” I said cooing.

“I love you, and I miss you huuuuuuuuuu” I laughed as she referenced a video online where a person made a very engine like sound as a cry.

“Anyway, I could always introduce you guys next time and we can all have fun together.” I offer.

“Sure, while we're at it I'll ask them to tell the skeleton inside me to pay rent too!” She joked.

“Don’t think that’ll work out, from what I see skeleton monsters and our skeletons are really different.” I hummed at the thought.

_Their bones were much thicker than the normal human and they could blink, eat, talk and even blush, not exactly something the skeletons inside us can do._

“You don’t say.” She deadpanned at me.

“Oh hush, don’t get sassy with me.” I huffed.

“I’ll sass you as much as I want.” She retorted and did a mleh sound at the end.

“Anyway how have things been for you?” I asked.

“Eh, nothing much like I said, a bunch of projects and commission here and there. I could show some of them off to you after some drinks, I need some outside opinion on some anyway.” She trailed on.

“You know I love to check them out, show them and I’ll give you so much comment and love them!” Lady B worked on so many projects and they all always turned out perfect. She made scripts, music, art, you name it she probably tried it!

“Haha you know how to motivate a person that’s for sure. I got to go now though, I still got some things to work if I want to hang out tomorrow.” She sighed out.

“Okay, take care BB, don’t forget about tomorrow, wink!” I reminded and gave an audible wink.

“I won’t, you take care too AA.” She bid goodbye and chuckled before ending the call.

I looks back at my phone and noticed my family had left a message.

'Nice picture, glad you made it safely, make sure you buy the things you need!' I read the message and begin to write a reply.

'Already went out to do so earlier, I miss you all!'

A few minutes later a notification sound plays on my phone.

'We miss you too sweetie, grandpa's giving a reminder for you to open the red envelope if you haven't yet.'

_I haven't opened the red envelope yet, I better do that now._

I take the red envelope in my purse out and open it up. Just as I suspected, there were 100$ bills stacked stuffed in the envelope, behind the stack was a note hand written by my grandfather.

I trust you won't use the money willy nilly, use it in the case of emergency okay? Be good young one, know that we’re always there with you even if we no longer live under the same roof anymore.

'Tell gramps I just opened it and that I really appreciate it, especially his note!' I type out and hit send message.

'Will do, we're going to be busy for the next few days now. We love you.' The reply was quick, they must have been waiting for me.

'Understood, love you all too.'

As I send the last message, I place my phone to the side and give out a yawn. I looked out the window and it was completely dark now. With that in mind, I place everything to their rightful place and lay down on the bed, wrapping myself in the comforters before sleep took over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to those who have been inconvenienced by the changes, I'll do my best to correct my mistakes before posting the next chapter in the future!


	3. Dreams again? Three Puzzles and Grillby's.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lady A dreams about how she ended up going home after that fateful day. She questions why she's dreaming so much but is unsure about what it means. 
> 
> Since the skeletons helped her with unpacking, she decides to visit them.
> 
> She also goes to the pub named Grillby's with her best friend Lady B after solving some puzzles. Lady A experiences drinking monster alcohol for the first time.

I was still behind the boulder after the skeleton vanished but I had zoned out thinking about what happened before I got here. I wasn’t sure how long I zoned out but I was completely alone on the mountain now. I stared into the abyss I was about to jump in to before the monsters came out.

_Grandma said monsters were sealed in this mountain generations ago, but who would’ve thought those stories were actually real? I wonder how long they’ve been living underground, it didn’t seem like they even recognized the sun from their reaction earlier… Yet they were so excited, so happy to get out and so hopeful for the future. Could I be as happy and excited for the future too?_

I furrow my brows at the last thought, I was really depressed when I came up the mountain. Everything Chad said earlier had made me feel so torn up inside, I thought I was the problem and everything would be better off if I disappeared. Thinking of it now with a clearer mind, was that really a logical thought?

 _He was the one who broke up with me and ignored me for weeks to be with another girl, and then he blew up at me when all I wanted to do was to talk. He was always so nice to me before and sweet too. So why did he blow up at me like that?_ _What did he say exactly again?_

_“Why? You’re asking why? I already told you I thought I loved you! Do you have a hearing problem now too? I mean the only reason why I dated you was because you confessed to me and well I wanted to give it a shot. I didn’t think you were such an oversensitive baby! Thinking about it now, all you ever did when we dated was whine and cry about everything!”_

_..._

_So he said it was because he thought he loved me, that the reason he dated me was because I confessed and it made him decide to give me a shot. I was so confused because he didn’t answer my question at all. I asked why he dated me for so long not why he dated me at first._

_“Why did you even date me for so long then?”_

_That was my question when he said he didn't love me as much as he did... I get that sometimes things don't work out but while we were in a relationship he never complained, he always stopped everything to keep me company and when I apologized for those moments he would comfort me and say that it was okay. He told me to go to him anytime I felt down, he said he wanted to be there for me... We were together for two years, two years and he never said anything before so why now?_

_Why?_

The longer I pondered the more frustration came to me as nothing came to mind.

_I don’t understand, I just don’t understand him or myself for the matter. Why did I let myself react like this? I was so stupid, so hopeless that If it wasn’t for that beam of light earlier I would’ve just jumped and…_

Deciding not to finish the thought, I stare into the sky, the sun had already set, and the sky was a mixture of pink and orange while the clouds were a greyish blue. The full moon was starting to appear in the sky.

_In the end does it matter though? There’s more to live for in life. I don’t have to be like this, I don’t have to believe the world would be better if I disappeared. If monsters could be trapped underground for who knows how long and still be so happy and excited for the future then so could I!_

With a determined heart, I decided to step away from the cavern. I took a deep breath and sighed out, taking my phone out to check the time.

**7:00 p.m.**

_I better get home before it becomes completely dark._

I knew the forest like the back of my hand, I easily got halfway through the forest until my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I must have reached to some reception, I pulled out my phone opened the notification box. There was 3 missed call and 16 unread messages.

_Chad. All of them were from Chad. What the hell does he want?_

‘I’m sure you already know this but I read all your messages. They’re really pathetic lol’

‘Can’t believe you were so desperate for my attention.’

_Are all the messages going to be like this?_

‘Did the break up really hurt you that bad? Jeez, I mean it’s kind of flattering actually. Didn’t think you liked me that much.’

‘Are you ignoring me?’

_Unlike you I don’t ignore people on purpose. I didn’t have reception up at the mountain. Kind of destroys the point of disappearing if people could still reach me._

‘Lol whatever I don’t care, I’m not your boyfriend anymore so ignore me all you want.’

‘Okay that wasn’t what I meant, I do care because I said some fucked up shit and I didn’t mean them.’

_Huh?_

‘Pick up your phone. We need to talk’

‘Just pick up your phone. Is that so hard to do? jfc.’

‘Pick up.’

I raised a brow and continued reading, his messages starting to sound desperate.

_Oh the irony._

‘Okay fine I’ll text it to you. Earlier today, I didn’t mean any of it, I was just frustrated. I mean you crashed my date with that chick y’know?’

_Frustrated? That's your excuse? And that girl… Who was she?_

As if he knew I was going to ask, the next message answered my question.

‘That chick, her name’s Lily and I’ve been seeing her for some time now, even before we got together, I never thought she would give me a shot but she did! I had to break up with you as soon as possible when I knew I could get it on with her. I just didn’t say anything to you because I wanted to keep things low profile, I haven’t even told most of my mates.’

_So for two years you were just going out with me while pining for someone else? You never brought it up and instead you made me think you loved me the entire time, broke up with me the first chance you got without any explanation then when questioned you call me unlikable, overemotional, useless and even going as far to say the time with me were the worst moment in your life and the only good thing I could do is kill myself._

I was shaking as a mixture of anger and frustration was boiling inside me. That message made me realize how selfish the person I used to love was.

_Were you too busy thinking about yourself to care about how I would feel?_

‘You didn’t take everything I said earlier seriously did you?’

_I did but apparently me cock-blocking you justifies it all._

‘You’re not going to kill yourself right?’

_…_

‘You can’t do this to me.’

 _Just keep scrolling down._ I told myself after a short hesitation to continue.

‘If you actually killed yourself because of me it’s considered assisted suicide, I just turned 18 and they’ll give me a harsh sentence if they find me guilty. You just can’t do this to me, I don’t want to go to jail.’

_Is that the real reason for why you texted me?_

‘Look I’m sorry okay? Please read your messages, say something, do anything.’

My thumb tried scrolling lower but that was the last message he sent.

_I could just ignore him, just like he did. Make him feel as anxious as I did. I already read them so it’s not like I needed to do anything else._

Yet I couldn’t put my phone down. I stared at his last message blankly, the desperation in it made me think back to when I sent him messages that were read but never responded to.

_But it wouldn’t be right to do that._

I sighed as my fingers tapped on the screen.

‘I’m alive.’ I typed out, not really knowing how else to respond to everything he wrote.

‘OH THANK GOD.’ He texted back almost immediately

He was typing more but I decided to ignore it and type my next message.

‘I appreciate the honesty Chad but I need space. Goodbye.’ I decided nothing else needed to be discussed and immediately blocked his number after sending the last message.

As I place my phone back into my pocket, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest. I chuckled, it almost felt unreal that all of that happened. This whole day was a mess that I just wanted to keep to myself.

_What good would it do talking to someone about it? They’d just think I was seeking attention._

I stared up into the sky, it was a beautiful night, the only light now coming from the bright full moon and twinkling stars in the clear sky, the faint sound of the river flowing nearby accompanied with the sounds of crickets chirping.

**Ring Ring Ring.**

_And the sound of an alarm clock?_

Everything warped and I was now on a bed. I wanted to go back to sleep but the ringing of the alarm clock wasn’t allowing me to. I groaned out as I sat up, my vision was a bit fuzzy but I managed to stretch to the ringing alarm clock first try and turned it off.

_Mmm…_

My mind wasn’t quite awake yet but my body was so I got up and made my way to the shower. My body was practically on autopilot right now as I switched on the heater. I stripped myself bare before entering and turning the shower knobs to let the water flow.

**_TOO COLD._ **

The water was freezing and it was enough to jolt my mind to wake up. As the cold water trailed down my back I frantically turned the knobs to adjust the temperature of the water.

_BETTER BUT STILL COLD._

I continued adjusting it and the water warmed up considerably, the heater must be doing its thing.

_Ah, warm…_

As the warm water washed over me, I squeezed a dollop of shampoo into my hand and started scrubbing it into my scalp and my hair. After a while I washed off the shampoo and squeezed a dollop of shower gel to clean the rest of my body.

_That dream of my past… Can’t say I regret blocking him, I never knew what happened to him after that but it doesn’t matter. He showed his true colours that day and it took me a long time to get over it._

Once I was done rinsing the soap off my body, I realized I forgot to take a towel in with me. No one was going to catch me anyway so I squeezed as much water as I could out my hair and walked out of the shower nude to look for my towel, leaving a trail of water on the way.

_The past is the past anyway, why am I dreaming about it so much? I thought about it a lot before sure but I never dreamt so vividly before. Is it because I moved back and it’s all coming back to me?_

Once I found the towel I dried myself off and used a bath mat to dry off the trail of water I left behind.

_Bah! Whatever the reason is I’ve had enough of the past, I should focus on the now. Setting up everything in the house was what I had planned for the week but that was basically finished for me by the skeletons yesterday, maybe I should go over and hang out with them today. Lady B was going to pick me up at 8pm so I have tons of time to waste till then._

I unpacked a few of the remaining boxes that contained my clothes and decided to wear the baby blue dress that I wore previously on my date with Papyrus but this time I wore the jade pendant my parents gave me with it. I also prepared a different outfit for tonight at the side so I could change quickly without looking for it later.

I boiled some water and cooked a pack of instant noodles and ate it with a hard-boiled egg. Once I was done washing the dishes, I picked up my light grey sling bag from the chair and I double checked to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

_I think that’s everything, time to head out!_

With that last thought in mind, I locked the front door of the house. I couldn’t help but notice how hot it was despite it being early in the morning, my family moved to a tropical climate country so I had spent 4 years used to a much more predictable time and temperature that didn’t have much seasonal change or any daylight saving shenanigans.

_I did miss being here despite it being pretty frustrating to wake up thinking I had woken up late for school and started making up a list of excuses in my mind only to realize I was in time once I reached there._

I haven’t exactly been to the skeletons home before since they just invited me yesterday but they did leave me a piece of paper to guide me there. I pulled out the piece of paper Sans gave me and started following the instructions written on it.

walk out your house into the woods till you reach a fallen tree.

I followed the instructions, not a few minutes later I reached what I presumed to be the fallen tree that the note meant. I looked at the next step.

follow the direction of where the sun sets and you’ll find a path, follow it.

I looked up to check where the sun was rising to ensure where east was and walked the opposite to west since that was where the sun would set. I found a path and it was a pretty confusing path but I followed it anyway.

_I may not recognize the woods as much since it’s been 4 years but I’m pretty sure I’ve walked in a large circle twice._

15 minutes had passed and I was confused, I decided to look at the paper again, there wasn’t anything obvious to tell me when to stop following the path. I looked closer and noticed a small fine print at the bottom.

go back to the fallen tree and just walk past it.

Furrowing my brows and mentally face palming for not noticing the small print sooner, I retraced my steps and walked back to the fallen tree to walk past it. Soon enough I could see some pretty open spaces and Papyrus right across from me. He noticed me and waved towards me, I stepped forward till I reached a line that had some words written under it.

YOU’VE MADE IT! PLEASE STAND RIGHT HERE FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.

“LADY A! MY BROTHER HAS INFORMED ME THAT HE HAS GIVEN YOU A REPLACEMENT FOR MY HASTILY MADE INSTRUCTIONS, HE SAID YOU WOULD TAKE AWHILE BUT I SEE YOU’VE ALREADY MANAGED TO DECIPHER MY BROTHER’S PUZZLE! CONGRATULATIONS!” Papyrus stated clapping his gloved hands happily.

_Puzzle? Felt more like a prank._

“Uh? I mean it did take me like 15 minutes...” I stared at him confused as he places a glove at his lower jaw.

“BUT TO SOLVE IT SO EASILY… MY BROTHER EXPECTED YOU TO HAVE TAKEN LONGER THAN HALF AN HOUR, IT MUST’VE BEEN CHILD’S PLAY TO YOU! NO MATTER, IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN OUR FRIENDSHIP, I INSIST THAT YOU MUST GO THROUGH A SERIES OF PUZZLES. DO YOU ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE?” Papyrus pointed towards me and seemed so excited to show off his puzzles that I nodded to accept the challenges albeit a little confused still.

“EXCELLENT! I THINK YOU’LL FIND THIS PARTICULAR PUZZLE QUITE SHOCKING!” his bone brows lowered and his grin seemed a bit proud.

“I don’t see anything though?” I stared towards him but couldn’t make out what the puzzle could be.

“IT MAY SEEM LIKE NOTHING IS BEFORE YOU BECAUSE THIS IS ACTUALLY THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! DO NOT WORRY, THE VOLTAGE HAS BEEN ADJUSTED TO A LEVEL SAFE FOR HUMANS TO EXPERIENCE” Papyrus pulled out an orb as he described the puzzle.

“Well shouldn’t I be holding the orb then?” I asked pointing to the orb in his gloves.

“OH, YES! GIVE ME A MOMENT.” He started making his way towards me in a pattern and I couldn’t help but stare at the steps he took and how it left quite a print to follow. He passed me the orb with a smile and quickly walked back in the same exact pattern.

_It couldn’t be that simple, could it?_

I took a few careful steps, despite my disbelief I decided to follow the exact steps he took. His face shined with anticipation. I felt a shock and stopped completely in my tracks with a jump.

_AH! Wait, no that wasn’t a shock. What the hell body._

It must’ve been phantom shock from the nervousness faking me out that caused me to jump. He jumped as well and threw me a look of worry but I gave a thumbs up to show I was fine. I decided to pick up the pace when I noticed that it really was that simple, just follow the tracks he left behind and I would be in the shock free zone. I got to the end and was immediately lifted up into a hug by Papyrus.

“WERE YOU ZAPPED EARLIER? I WAS SURE THAT YOU WERE GOING THE RIGHT WAY.” Papyrus took the orb from my hand and looked at it as if it was defective before carefully placing me down.

“I’m fine, I was just really nervous and jumped.’ I chuckled out softly, my face flushed from the sudden embrace.

“WELL THAT’S A RELIEF, DID YOU ENJOY THE PUZZLE?” He looked over to me and I nodded.

“Yeah but Papyrus, did you leave me the footprints to follow on purpose?” I asked, staring at the puzzles that now had both of our footprints in a very specific pattern.

“NYEH HEH HEH, INDEED I DID! I’VE MADE THE MISTAKE BEFORE OF LEAVING THEM BY ACCIDENT BUT THIS TIME I’VE LEFT THEM ON PURPOSE TO THROW YOU OFF!” He boasted and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Not going to lie, you really succeeded in that department. I was doubting myself every step of the way.” I said rubbing the back of my head.

“YOU NEED NOT WORRY FOR I THE GREAT PAPYRUS BELIEVED IN YOU THE WHOLE TIME! NOW, A SHARP MIND LIKE YOURS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PASS THE FOLLOWING PUZZLES WE’VE PREPARED SO PLEASE GO AHEAD WHILE I RECALIBERATE MY PUZZLES!” Papyrus held one of my hand and pointed me into a direction to follow, giving me an award winning smile and wink, his cheekbones tinted a light pink.

I returned the smile and started making my way to the next puzzle, I turned my head back to check on Papyrus and winced as I saw him zapped by his puzzle. I stopped for a second to check if he was okay but he seemed to shake it off and was back on his feet.

_He’ll be fine._

I continued walking ahead until I saw a sign along with a pattern of X on the ground along with a pressure plate switch. There seemed to be some spikes blocking the way past the puzzle so I walked closer to the sign to read what it wrote.

TURN EVERY X INTO AN O, THEN PRESS THE SWITCH.

I walked over to a red cross and it turned into a green circle. I walked over to the next cross and it also turned to a green circle as well. Soon I stepped on all the red crosses, turning them into green circles. I felt a bit proud at how quickly I finished the puzzle.

_Woo! That was easy!_

That’s what I thought but as I took a step on the green circle to make way to the pressure plate I noticed that it turned to a green triangle.

_Wait what? Why did it turn into triangles?_

Scratching my head, I tried to jump over the next few circles but ended up stepping on a few more by accident and turned 3 of them into triangles.

_Maybe it’ll be fine?_

I thought as I stepped onto the pressure plate in hopes it would work but it just turned everything back into the red crosses.

_Dang it, I guess not._

Huffing, I decided to walk in a different way this time to avoid getting the triangles again.

_I can do this!_

I noticed that I couldn’t reach some of the crosses without turning the circles into triangle and half way through went back to the pressure plate to reset the puzzle.

_Third time’s the charm right?_

I went back to the puzzle and this time left a few spaces that I could jump on to change them into circles on my way back. It worked and I gave a high five to myself as I stepped on to the pressure plate and the spikes retreated back into the ground.

_Success! Woot Woot!_

As I celebrated I hear a giggle from a bush and turned to it immediately.

“Who’s there?” I asked facing the bush and it rustled a bit more until I saw Sans pop out. He was in the blue bandanna and grey clothing I recognized him wearing previously from shopping yesterday.

“Sans? You made this puzzle?” I asked and stared at his appearance more, he had a broad smile, and it was much different from the lazy smile he gave yesterday.

_Is this what happens when you wake up in the good side of bed?_

“MWEH HEH HEH! INDEED THE MAGNIFICENT SANS MADE THIS PUZZLE AND I’VE OBSERVED YOU COMPLETE IT! VERY INTERESTING WAY OF SOLVING IT I MUST SAY!” His laugh sounded a lot like Papyrus and he was a lot louder too compared to yesterday.

“Interesting? Well it was really fun jumping around. How did you make the puzzle anyway?” I asked and gave a glance to the puzzle and back to him.

“IT’S A SECRET! YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY, A PUZZLEMAKER NEVER REVEALS HIS SECRETS!” He waves his finger at me as he said so.

“Isn’t that what they say for magicians?” I asked with an amused tone.

“YOU COULD SAY MY PUZZLES ARE _MAGICAL_!” He said smoothly and widened his grin even more.

“Hm~ magical huh? Well I guess you must put some _magic touch_ in all your puzzles huh?” I used my index finger to press onto his chest and he blushed a bright cyan and I couldn’t help but have a smirk on my face.

“MWEH! ARE YOU FLIRTING?! I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW I’M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!” He took a step back and placed a gloved hand onto his puffed up chest.

“I guess you’re right, I have zero redeeming qualities” I make a dramatic sigh and slump down my head.

I hear a gasp and raise my head slightly to see that he had his hands on his cheeks.

“OH NO!!! THAT HUMILITY… IT REMINDS ME OF MYSELF! YOU’RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS! I GUESS IT MEANS WE HAVE TO GO ON A DATE! LET US EXCHANGE NUMBERS HUMAN!” I raised my head and gave a surprised look as he pulled out his phone.

“O-okay!” I stood up straight, deciding to not be caught off guard this time from getting another skeleton’s number and pulled out my phone as well so we could exchange numbers. I tapped my number and placed my contact name as Lady A into his phone and passed it back to him, he gave me back my phone and he places his name as Blueberry. He took a glance down at his phone then back to me and his pupil turned into stars as he was jumping in place.

“EXCELLENT! NOW THAT WE HAVE EACH OTHER’S NUMBERS YOU CAN CONTACT ME ANYTIME LADY A! THOUGH YOU DO HAVE ANOTHER PUZZLE TO GO THROUGH TO COMPLETELE YOUR CHALLENGE, GOOD LUCK!” He hopped away and I couldn’t help but giggle but a thought made me halt my giggle.

_Wait a second, isn’t this the same skeleton who tricked me with a prank instruction earlier? I completely forgot to ask him about it. I got so caught off guard earlier with his appearance and the puzzle that it didn’t cross my mind at all… Well I do have his number so I can ask him about it later, he didn’t even bring it up though, I would’ve thought he’d be proud of himself or just ask me to get a reaction or make a pun I mean he did make that cute magic pun and I ended up flirting and I guess I have a date in the future?_

Suddenly the scent of cigarette smoke filled the air and I looked to my left to see Papyrus slouched in an orange hoodie and dark green shorts smoking, he glanced at me through his half lidded eye socket.

_So he changed outfit again, didn’t he wear this at the market?_

“Papyrus? How long have you been here, weren’t you recalibrating your puzzle?” I asked, surprised to see him.

“just got here, i finished early, thought i would greet cha before you go on to the next puzzle.” He responded and I stared at him surprised.

_Okay woah, what happened to his voice? It’s is a lot softer. Is this even the same skeleton? Uh… Maybe he’s just tired?_

**Perception check: Fail.**

“So how’d it go? I was a bit worried when you got shocked by your puzzle but you seemed to be fine so I went on ahead.” I said and stared at his appearance more.

_Would it be rude to question his sudden change of outfit and attitude?_

“you saw me get shocked and you didn’t offer to help?” he said in a teasing manner.

“Well you seemed fine and you told me to go on ahead!” I pouted in respond to play along, crossing my arms.

“i’m hurt honey, thought you cared for me.”

“Of course I do I-“ I stopped mid-sentence and gave him a puzzled look

**Roll perception check again…**

_Did he just call me honey? I mean he did hold that honey bottle and wink at me before but this is strange, he didn’t bring that up at all till now._

The way the skeletons acted were completely different from before and as if something clicked in my mind, I put two and two together and realized something. The skeletons I saw while shopping and the skeletons who helped me at my house after shopping were two different skeletons entirely.

“You don’t know my name and Sans acted like he didn’t know my name too until I wrote it on his phone…” I stated though it was more so to myself than to the skeleton in front of me.

**Perception check: Success!**

_They may look similar but the way they stood and acted were completely different, I may have been pushing the obvious signs away thinking Sans had a good night rest and was in a really good mood but after meeting up with Papyrus a few times I’m pretty sure he did not act like this at all. In fact that Sans earlier acted a lot like Papyrus and this skeleton in front of me gave a similar vibe to the Sans who rode that tricycle._

“maybe you’re right, or maybe you’re just overthinking it a tad.” He gave a lazy grin as he shrugged.

Unconvinced, I took a few steps closer till we were pretty much face to face so I could inspect his face, his eyes were half lid but I could see that they were locked in on mine as if challenging me. I was convinced this wasn’t the same tall goofy skeleton and with a grin I whispered in a low tone “You two may look alike but I can see it in your eyes, you’re a completely different person.” his face was immediately tinted in an orange colour and his eyes widened slightly as the cigarette between his teeth went slack.

“PAPY!” We jumped at the shout and he takes a step back and looked towards where the shout came from.

“welp, looks like i’m being called. i’ll see you next time honey.” He chuckled and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie as he walks away opposite to the direction of where the shout came from but I had a suspicion that he would reach there another way.

_Well that was interesting to find out, so there’s 4 skeletons?_

I walked past where the spikes previously blocked the way and made my way forward to the next puzzle. I noticed quite far ahead a bunch of lighted multi-coloured tiles on the ground.

“YOU TOOK LONGER THAN EXPECTED HUMAN! THOSE TWO MUST HAVE RECALIBERATED THEIR PUZZLES TO FINALLY BE UP TO THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS STANDARDS!” I couldn’t help but stare, across me past the puzzle stood a tall skeleton who strikes a large resemblance to the two other tall skeletons.

This skeleton had sharp teeth and two scratch like cracks over his left eye socket, his outfit bore a few similarities to Papyrus and the bandana wearing Sans but his had a faded red and black colour scheme, his chest plate was black with broad spiked shoulder pads, his gloves also seemed a bit longer with spikes as well and he wore black tight pants with a red belt that had a gold buckle. I noticed that his scarf was also longer like a cape and his boots had heels.

_Okay maybe there’s more than 4._

“I SEE YOU ARE ENTRANCED BY MY APPEARENCES FROM YOUR OGLING BUT YOU MUST TEAR YOUR ATTENTION AWAY FROM MY OBVIOUS GOOD LOOKS AND FOCUS! THIS PUZZLE WON’T BE AS EASY AS THE OTHER TWO SO LISTEN UP FOR I WILL ONLY EXPLAIN THE RULES OF THIS PUZZLE ONCE!” the Terrible Papyrus stated and I am wondering exactly how many skeletons are in these woods.

“Alright.” I stared at him still, I just couldn’t help it, the skeleton had a pretty cool style!

“SURELY YOU’VE NOTICED THE MULTIPLE COLOURS ON THE BOARD RIGHT NOW! WELL, EACH TILE HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSIBLE, YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES, IF YOU STEP ON THEM... YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER!! ORANGE-TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH THEM IF YOU LIKE, BUT... IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES! THE PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU. ALSO, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO ZAP YOU! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP... SMELLS LIKE LEMONS!! WHICH PIRAHNAS DO NOT LIKE! PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OKAY! FINALLY, PINK TILES. THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE.” As he described them I tried my best to make mental notes to all of them.

“Uh…”

_Red and yellows are no no zones, Green alarms monster but are fine to step on I think, orange is fruity, blue is water and purple is soap… For some reason all of this seems familiar._

“I’VE HAD TO RECALIBRATE THEM TO BE LESS DANGEROUS AS THE OTHERS HAVE WHINED FOR CHANGE TO BE MADE SO IT WILL ALL BE SAFE EVEN IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE UNFORTUNATELY. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE RULES?” His red orb eyes were staring back at my light blue eyes.

“I guess so?” I took a glance at the puzzle as a whole and stepped onto the first pink tile and looked at the three tiles around it. I had to plan out my path carefully before proceeding, I already noticed that I could get stuck and forced to backtrack on some paths if I went through the one at the left which was the orange tile it would cause me trouble at the blue tiles that seemed to line up but there is a purple tile that I assume that would negate the effects of the orange tile…

“HAVING TROUBLE ALREADY HUMAN?” He scoffed and I stuck a tongue out at him in respond.

“No way, I’m just planning ahead. So… your name is Papyrus too?” I asked as I stepped onto the next tile.

“I AM THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS YES.” He answer though he raised a bony brow, intrigued by my question.

“So are like the two skeletons you referred to earlier your brothers?”

“NO. MY BROTHER IS OUT TODAY. PROBABLY AT THAT GREESY JOINT AGAIN.” He muttered the last part but his loud booming voice didn’t exactly make it hard to overhear it even if he did lower it significantly.

_So not all of them are related to each other even though they all look so similar. But I guess that does confirm my suspicion completely that there’s a bunch of other skeletons. Wait so is there another one? I better ask._

“What’s your brother like?”

“LAZY AND APATHETIC.” He sneered. “THOUGH IF YOU MEAN APPEARANCE WISE HE’S SHORT BUT ALSO HAS SHARP TEETH LIKE ME. YOU CAN OFTEN SEE HIM WEARING A BLACK WINTER JACKET WITH A FUR HOOD AND RED SWEATER WITH BLACK PANTS WHICH IS NO MATCH TO MY OUTFIT WHICH I DESIGNED ALL BY MYSELF NYAH HAH HAH.” He ended with a cat like laugh.

_Well that’s very descriptive._

“I see… and his name is also Sans?” I asked and focused back on the puzzle, the next tile I could step on is orange but then I wouldn’t be able to go through the blue unless I slide on a purple tile…

“INDEED.” he stated with crossed arms and started tapping his foot.

_Do skeletons all share the same name based on their height?_

“And you only have one brother?” I slide on a purple tile as I asked another question.

“YES. NOW ARE YOU DONE WITH THE TRIVIAL QUESTIONS? IF YOU’RE NOT CAREFUL YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE A MISTAKE, WHICH I’LL LAUGH AT WHEN YOU DO!” I decided not to respond to that obvious bait and looked down to continue with the puzzle. I was almost done anyway.

_Two more tiles, and…_

**BZZT**

I didn’t have a choice and took a step on a green tile before I take the final step to the pink tile. With that, I had crossed to the other side.

“Woohoo!” I shouted raising my hands up and doing a fist pump motion.

“DESPITE BEING DISTRACTED WITH A CONVERSATION YOU MANAGED TO FINISH THE PUZZLE ANYWAY, CONGRATULATION HUMAN, THOUGH IF THERE WAS A TIMER YOU WOULD HAVE PROBABLY FAILED.” He huffed out.

“Ah ah ah, it’s not over yet. I stepped on the green tile at the end after all, so does this mean you’re the monster I fight?” I said and push my breast together with my upper arm and did my best to throw a seductive look.

_I’m not exactly a fighter so maybe I can seduce my way out of this fight._

“W-WHAT?” He blushed a bright crimson and looked at me flabbergasted. 

_Wait he didn’t know? Ah shit did I dig my own grave? Just roll with it._

“You heard me, green tiles are alarm tiles to fight a monster aren’t they? Fight me.” I bit my bottom lip with a grin and looked at his surprised face, his jaw dropped down an inch or two, leaving his mouth slightly agape.

_Please don’t backfire._

“I-I MUST HAVE FORGOTTEN BUT YOU CAME MUCH LATER THAN I EXPECTED AND I HAVE OTHER THINGS TO DO, PLUS IT WOULDN’T BE FAIR ANYWAY SO I SHALL SPARE YOU A FIGHT HUMAN!” His eyes shifted sideways before he walked away swiftly with a still very much flushed face. I muffle my own giggle with a hand as he left, my eyes followed him walk away and I noticed he was going to the direction of a log cabin that was large enough to fit a few families quite comfortably from the looks of it.

_Success! Hey wait a second, is that where the skeletons live? Huh... how did I miss that the entire time?_

As he went in the house he brushed against another skeleton roughly, I noticed it was Sans, the one with the blue hoodie and black shorts that he brushed against and was now coming out of the house.

“what did you do? haven’t seen him that ruffled in a while.” He looked back and closed the door behind him.

“Teased him a little with a challenge to fight.” I grinned out deciding to not tell him about it being a bluff attempt.

“heh, you’re lucky he’s embarrassed or things could’ve been messy.” He shrugged as he walked towards me.

“His reaction was cute though, anyway did you purposely write the note to get me to walk around in circles for a while!” I asked puffing my cheeks and pulled out the piece of paper he gave me yesterday.

“did i? whoops, heh sorry but hey at least you made it.” he didn’t bother even looking at the paper but his smile inched a little higher.

“Hmpf.” I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.

“anyway, you must’ve met most of us already, you must be a bit confused huh?” he pointed out and I felt like giving him a sarcastic answer.

_Understatement, I have so much questions._

“No duh.” I said instead and pulled out my phone, it was already 7pm.

_The sun was still up! How could it be so late already? oh god I still need to get back to wash up and prepare before Lady B comes to fetch me!_

“what’s the matter?” he asked noticing the face of panic I was making.

“Uh I need to get back as soon as possible, I’ve got a friend coming over to pick me up really soon.” I said and debated running back home to get there faster.

“i know a shortcut how about i send you home, how does that sound?” he offered.

“Alright…” it wouldn’t hurt to have help to get back after all.

_I wonder if we’ll be going with his tricycle, I’m probably going to get motion sickness…_

“all of us will be here tomorrow so we can properly introduce ourselves then if you visit.” he said as he offered a hand to me.

“Sounds good.” I take his bony hand but immediately flinch at how cold it was without that whoopee cushion to cover it. I made an effort to mask my surprise.

“something wrong?”  He chuckled at my reaction but his brow ridges seemed to tilt to a frown despite the grin on his face.

“No no, I ah, I didn’t mean to jump there, just didn’t expect you to be cold to the bone.” I tried to lighten up with a pun and he gave a raised brow as I continued. “Here, let me use my hands to warm them up” I reached out with both hands and held his bony hand between them. He looked surprise and his cheekbones glowed a tint of blue, he chuckled and squeezed my hand slightly.

“sounds nice pal and don’t worry, nothing gets under my skin.” He pointed out and I made no effort to stifle a laugh.

“Haha, alright!” I cheered and squeezed his hand back. I pulled a hand away to rest to my side.

“anyway, we better get going. you ready?” His stance relaxed as he waited for my answer.

“Yeap!”

After I gave the confirmation, everything around us immediately shifted and I felt a little queasy and it was as if my knees were going to give way but everything else seemed fine, I noticed that we were now outside my house.

“here we are.”

“Woah!” I shake off the queasy feeling and looked around to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.

“can’t do that often with others but pretty neat huh?” his hands were now in his pockets, I didn’t even notice when he let go my hand.

“Really neat!” I said in awe.

“heh, could show off some other things in the future if you’d like.” He was so chill about it and I felt the need to pun.

“Going to show me your _closet of skeletons_?” I giggled out and he snickered in respond.

“good one, I’ve got to go now though, see ya.” he pointed at me then teleported away with a wink.

_He’s so cool without even trying. Oh my god._

It wasn’t the first time I saw him disappear like that but it was still so amazing. Plus the first time I saw it I was a bit more worried about other things. Getting to experience it first-hand earlier made it like at least 10x cooler, it made me realize that it could just be the tip of the iceberg and moving back here felt like the best thing I’ve done in a while. I had to tell my family and-

_Halt! That’s a bad idea. Granny has a paranoia of monsters and I need to get ready to go out!_

I mentally snapped at myself and made my way into the house and decided to quickly freshen up before Lady B came over. I took a quick rinse and changed into a tight sleeveless V-neck dark blue dress that reached to just above my knee that I prepared earlier. Once I was done I checked the time, it was closing in to 8pm already.

_Lady B’s going to be here any time now, I need to hurry! What else do I need to get ready?_

I check my more stylish black handbag I decided to use to make sure I had everything such as a pink stun gun along with my phone and purse.

_I bought this years ago, never know when you’ll need it. Better safe than sorry after all._

**Ding Dong**

_The doorbell, she’s here!_

Hopping on a foot at a time as I put on a pair of black high heel platform pumps, I reached the front door and opened it to see my best friend, Lady B. I couldn’t help but stare at her, she’s got a skinny frame with a medium skin tone and she was about a head taller than me, her hair is still the same wavy magenta pink mess that I remember before I left the country except it was shorter now and only reached to her chin.

_If I recall correctly I’m pretty sure she dyed her hair that colour for the first time with me, her natural hair colour was black and she had wanted to dye it for forever and complained that black was such a boring color so the day I was about to leave I coloured my hair with her._

She also had chestnut eyes and her left eye had a scar over it, apparently she got it after I moved. I only found out when we did a video call and she hesitantly told me that she lost the vision in that eye because of an incident but she never dove into further details about it and I decided to respect her wishes of not wanting to talk about it.

_Though I do hope she’ll talk to me about it one day._

No words have been exchanged since I opened the door, we both were staring at each other.

“Nice suit B, I dig it!” I decided to break the silence and complimented her outfit. It was a three piece dark purple suit with a royal blue tie and a leather cap-toe lace-up dress shoe. It was very sharp-looking and well-fitted on her.

“Thought you’d like it, it’s a bit stiff but I thought I would dress up a bit for our first outing in forever” She smiled and moved some stray hair behind her ear.

_She really was rocking the look, she was handsome and beautiful at the same time._

“I love it” I responded and she looked at me for a moment before pulling me into a hug.

“I missed you.” She mumbled next to my ear.

“I missed you too” I returned the hug and patted her back.

“Your hair is so long now.” She pointed out and released me from the embrace.

“Yeah and it’s fabulous!” I did a twirl and flipped my hair to show it off and she giggled in respond.

“You’re always fabulous and that dress is gorgeous on you, wanna take some pics before we go?” She pulled out her phone and gave a toothy grin to me.

“Alright!” I responded excitedly. She bend her knee slightly and had one hand around my shoulder in a peace sign while the other held the phone to take the selfie. I brought one hand up in a finger gun pose and winked as she snapped the picture.

“Alright let me see!” I said and she passed the phone to me.

_The picture was perfect, Lady B does photography once in a while as a hobby so it’s not a surprise._

“Ready to head out?” She asked.

“Yeah let’s go!” I gave her a wide grin and returned her phone once I transferred the picture to myself.

She led me to her car and while she drove, we started chatting about things like what happened at my last day of working in the pet store and how it was like living in a tropical country. She talked about how the monsters first set up their civilization in the town I had visited and that the pub we were going was there as well.

“We’re here” Lady B pointed out after I was done talking about what happened today.

“Already? That was quick.” I said as I got out of the car and closed the door behind me.

I looked across the street and noticed a two story building with a huge lit up orange sign with the word Grillby’s on it. Most of the building windows were tinted orange, from the front you could see shadows casted from the inside showing that quite a number of figures were already inside.

After we looked both ways of the road and waited for every car to pass we crossed the road together.

_Safety first after all!_

When we entered the building, the jukebox was playing a calm and soothing music. I looked around and noticed some booths, there were groups of monsters but also groups of humans too, some even mixed together.

_It’s great that other monsters and humans are hanging out together too,_

“Is it hot in here or is it just me?” I asked and fanned myself slightly with my hand.

“It’s pretty hot, Grillby is a fire monster after all and he’s at the bar over there.” My best friend said and pointed towards the bar.

I looked over and noticed the bartender was a fire monster in a charcoal suit vest with a black bowtie mixing drinks for some monsters, there was a creature with his back facing us with lime green hair wearing a leather jacket similar to a punk style and a bird like monster with Indian Red feathers sitting by the bar.

The punk looking one turned around and I noticed it had the face of a hamster with sunglasses on, he waved towards us and Lady B waved back at them.

_It’s nice that humans and monsters are getting along._

“You’ll get used to the temperature, so are you hungry? The burgers and fries here are pretty good, and we can get some alcohol with it.” Lady B brought up and I could hear my stomach growl softly, I haven’t ate anything since this morning.

“Sounds good, I could go for some cider” I hoped that the sound of my stomach growling wasn’t too obvious.

“Hey Grillz! Two burgers and fries over here. Oh and some cider shandy for her and the usual for me” Lady B said as she took a seat on the barstool.

The fire monster looked over curiously and nodded as he finished mixing a drink for another group.

Now that we were closer, the temperature rose a little more but not to an uncomfortable level. It felt like I was in front of a fireplace that was just right. The flames making out this monster definitely sparked my curiosity and I couldn’t help but stare, I noticed he was wearing a wrap glasses and wore a black apron underneath his vest.

_I wonder if that’s just his usual style or just how he wears while he works because hot damn I loved seeing others in suits. It always makes the wearer so much sharper and a proper suit that fits just right had a way of making almost anyone more charming in my eyes._

“Grillby’s pretty _hot_ right?” Lady B emphasized on hot and I giggled in respond.

“In every sense of the word” I responded and made a sizzle sound. The fire making out Grillby face had burned up a slight blue and he adjusted his glasses as he turned towards us. He poured the drinks elegantly and did a few tricks before placing it in front of us. I noticed Lady B already handing him a wad of cash and tried to pull up my purse to pay for my part but Lady B lightly slapped my hand.

“Don’t worry about it, my treat. Now, cheers, to you coming back here.” Lady B raised her cup up towards me.

“It’s good to be back.” I followed her movement and our glass of drinks clinked together before the two of us take a gulp of our drink.

“How is it?” Lady B placed her drink down and looked towards me.

“It’s so good.” I purred out. The cider shandy was sweet and bubbly and I took another sip before putting it back on the counter.

“Wanna try some of mine?” Lady B offered her drink to me.

“Sure!” I took a sip of hers and widened my eyes as I felt a slight burn at the back of my throat, it was much stronger and had a spicy aftertaste to it.

“Good right? It’s Scotch whisky with Grillby’s special touch.” Lady B chuckled with a wink and took back the drink.

“It’s really strong.” I noted and chuckled. Grillby came over to us placed our food in front of us.

“Just the way I like it.” Lady B smirked and took another sip of her drink before she dug in to her food. Grillby started wiping a few glass cups and I dug in as well. The fries were crunchy but soft at the inside and the burger was deliciously juicy.

It was absolutely delicious and my hunger might've contributed slightly but I looked towards Grillby to send my compliments to.

“You must hear people tell you that you’re hot all the time but holy damned my soul is burning with passion from everything you just made.” I said to the fire monster as I took another sip and it gave a tingle to my whole body.

“…Thank you” he whispered out in a soft crackly tone and gave me a soft smile.

“Jeez A, always the sweetie aren’t you.” My friend chuckled out and my face flushed.

“I’m just saying the truth.” I mumbled and looked down into my drink. Grillby gave a thoughtful look to the two of us before reaching back for a bottle. He poured out the drink in a shot glass and placed it in front of me. “…On the house.” He continued and gave a go ahead motion to me with his hands.

“O-oh, thanks!” I gave a wide smile and moved my head back and took the shot. The drink was smooth and light but also gave quite a burning sensation at the back of my throat. I shivered slightly as the tingling sensation coursed through my whole body.

“Your special Irish whiskey and you don’t offer some for me? I’m hurt Grillz!” Lady B whined, I couldn’t help but giggle and Grillby gave a short chuckle in respond as he turned to another customer’s calling, Lady B stuck a tongue out at him as he left.

“You two seem quite familiar with each other” I said after I finished my plate of food.

“Yeah, I come around when I’m free and eventually we’ve made some small talk. He’s not exactly the talkative the type but he’s pretty chill for someone made of fire.” She shrugged.

“Mm that drink was really- hic- good.” I hiccuped at the last bit and Lady B shakes her head with an amused look on her face.

“Oh man, are you drunk already? I forgot you had a low tolerance. Though monster alcohol is a bit stronger because of the infused magic so I guess that’s not the only reason.” Lady B chuckled out and I took a deep breath and held it in for a few seconds to stop my hiccup.

“Mmm I didn’t know that, also not everyone can have high tolerance to alcohol like you~ you’re driving us back so it’s fine if I get drunk right?” I giggled out.

“Oh yeah it’s cool.” Lady B said with a distracted look on her face, I looked over to notice her eyes locking onto the group of dog monsters playing poker on the table behind us.    

“You want to play with them don’t you?” I asked, though I knew that look on her face already said it all.

“So very much.” She stated and gave me a serious face that normally meant she was really passionate about something though it really felt like it didn’t fit the moment.

“Aren’t you allergic?” I asked and moved my pupils to the top right in a thinking manner.

“Yeah but I took my allergy pills already.” She shrugged as she finally stopped giving me that serious face.

“Go ahead then, join them for a bit. I can take care of myself.” I decided to encourage her to go since it would be pointless to continue talking if she was going to be distracted.

“You sure?” She asked.

“Of course, go, go.” I nudged her and she stood up and made her way there with her half full drink.

Lady B went over and took a spot to the table of dog monsters. There was five of them and they greeted Lady B in a very friendly manner.

The largest dog’s neck looked like it grew a little, its tail was wagging heavily against its metal armour and Lady B was happily patting it. I could see her lips moving as she talked to the group and she took a seat to join them in playing poker.

_They must know her, Lady B did say she come over when she’s free so she must’ve befriended most of the other patrons here too._

The thought in my mind was soon forgotten as I hear one of my favourite song playing. I finished my drink and got up from my seat to get to the dance floor. There were groups of humans here and there along with groups of monsters as well. I noticed a pretty drunk bunny monster swaying in a dance motion with a fish monster and big mouthed monster similar to a Venus Fly Trap.

_Monsters really had a lot of variety._

But as I scanned the area, one monster in particular caught my eyes.

_Of course, the one that caught my eyes would be a skeleton too. You'd think I'd gotten tired of them but nope!_

He had sharp teeth and a golden canine. He wore a black winter jacket with a fur hood and red sweater along with black pants and red sneakers. He wasn’t as tall as Papyrus but he looked about as tall as Sans.

_This must be the brother that other Papyrus talked about, he really described him perfectly._

Maybe it was the curiosity or the fact I was intoxicated but I felt drawn to him and started making my way towards him while following the beat with my hips and shoulders, he glanced over to me and noticed me making my way over, his had a bemused look on his face as I approached.

I wiggle my eyebrows and winked as I did a small twirl and had my back facing him to show off my other goods slightly before turning back to being face to face. He smirked in respond and danced as well, his dancing involved following the beat in a sloppy manner but his every movement was enticing nonetheless, his left eye shined a red light as his body moved in a slow motion manner that showed off his body, it was a bit of swaying and swinging but he did it in a manner that was definitely sexual.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off him and I stared at one part of his body the most with a thought in mind.

_Those sharp teeth are probably great at biting._

“i can see you staring at my teeth sweetheart. you’re a kinky one aren’t cha?” he huskily called me out and breathed out onto my neck, I shuddered at the contact it made on my skin.

No words had been exchanged till now and I probably would’ve been more embarrassed by such words but right now in my drunken state I felt much more courageous to go further.

“Mmm maybe~ you have a really nice voice.” I replied in a sultry voice and stared at him with half lidded eyes, his breath hitched and I could hear him start panting slightly.

“well ain't it your lucky day? you just might get to hear it all night long sweetheart… you want to have a good time?” he said in a low voice and placed a strong good grip on the side of my hips.

Before I could respond or say anything I felt a pull and was now separated from the skeleton monster.

“We’re going home now.” The voice of my best friend was heard in a whisper and I looked over my shoulder to see her glaring at the skeleton I was dancing with.

The skeleton seemed miffed as his attention was now drawn to my best friend and he rolled the pupils in his eye socket as Lady B dragged me away.

_I thought she was busy with the dogs._

“It’s not even that dark out yet, I wanted to dance more~” I whined out.

“You’re not in the right state of mind to continue and its summer, it doesn’t get dark until it at least turns 11pm.” Lady B said with a stern voice and I huffed as my legs had trouble following Lady B’s pace of moving away quickly. We made our way to the car and Lady B pushed me to the front seat and buckled me in.

“I was fineeee, I could’ve gone on longer and… and…“ I tried to continue but my eyelids felt like lead and all I could do was mumble gibberish as Lady B takes a deep breath before starting the ignition of her car.

“Hah… You’re really too much sometimes.” I hear Lady B sigh out in an amused tone before everything went black and I had lost consciousness completely.

_…_

**Pssh…**

I heard the sound of a sink running and groggily opened my eyes to realize I was tucked in my bed now.

_Lady B must’ve checked my bag for the key and carried me into bed._

The sound of water running stopped and Lady B stepped out of the toilet. She seemed to be making her way out the door but I called out for her before she could make another step further.

“Hey. Come sleep next to me. There’s enough space for two.” I moaned out and Lady B stared at me for a moment.

"Okay." She said softly with a nod. She then took off the three piece suit to reveal a white singlet that was underneath the whole time, she placed the suit neatly to the side before getting into the covers with me. The air was cooling because of the air conditioner and being under the covers made everything feel so comfortable.

"Is this alright?" She asked with a slight caution in her tone with her back facing me.

"Mmhm." I mumbled out and wrapped a hand over my best friend’s waist to pull her closer to me. She didn't resist and scooted closer to me as I snuggled her, I drifted back to sleep almost immediately after with her in my arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated! Woot Woot! Hope you enjoy this update and the interactions that went down this chapter.


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